Full text of "The papers of the Canadian Masonic Research Association, 1949-1976. Papers 39-79"

*
■.

^t S>„'3.i--..'lf

i -^/^

' i * " " —— ■^■i » •■ •• !• n •■^•i ■■ ■• ■•— •■^(i ««{•

■ * ■

i |!

1 I

11 ^!

The Papers of

THE CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

1949-1976

Volume II: papers 39 to 79 ! j

■j
I

■

I
I

■

II
II

■ ■

Published by I \

The Heritage Lodge No. 730, ! 1

A.F.&A.IVI., G.R.C., !i

1986. r

■

4., .._. — ._..__.._. . .._.._.__. — 4»

•f**^— ** " ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ " '■ -■ — ^— -- — ■ ■ — — — — — — .. - — — r n n ■ ii ,ffj

Table of Contents

VOLUME ONE

0. Hon. Edward Cornwallis, Founder of Freemasonry in Halifax.

(R. V. Harris), 1949 1

1. The Masonic Stone of Port Royal, 1606. (R. V. Harris), 1949 13

2. Freemasonry at the Siege of Quebec, 1759-60. (A.J.B. Milborne), 1950 31

3. Thomas Douglas Harington, Citizen and Freemason. (L. F. Riggs), 1950. ... 49

4. Early Freemasonry in the Canadian West. (W. Douglas), 1951 61

5. Freemasonry in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

(E. Brakefield-Moore), 1951 76

6. Chinese Freemasonry. (Rt. Rev. W.C. White), 1951 89

7. Col. William James Bury MacLeod Moore. (R. V. Harris), 1951 96

9. The Masonic Lodge in the 78th Regiment, Eraser's Highlanders.

(A.J.B. Milborne), 1952 115

11. Freemasonry in the Bay of Quinte District, Ontario. (O.G. Alyea), 1952. ... 168

12. The Hugh de Payens Preceptory No. 1, Kingston, Ontario.

(R.V. Harris), 1952 189

14. The Mural Paintings in the Montreal Masonic Memorial Temple.

(A.J.B. Milborne), 1953 251

15. The Life and Masonic Career of Joseph Brant. (Dr. G. Brett), 1953 273

16. The Story of Royal Arch Masonry in Upper Canada, 1792-1858, Part 1.

(R. V. Conover), 1953 281

17. Sir William Campbell, Chief Justice of Upper Canada, 1826-29.

(W. C. Coulter), 1953 301

18. H. R. H. Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent. (R. V. Harris), 1953 308

19. The Masonic Career of Sir John A. MacDonald. (Dr. L. F. Riggs), 1953. . . . 333

20. Erasmus James Philipps, Founder of Freemasonry in Canada.

(Hon. J. Doull), 1954 337

21. Hon. Alexander Keith, Ruler of the Craft in Nova Scotia, 1839-73.

(R. V. Harris), 1954 352

22. Early Freemasonry in Ontario. (J.J. Talman Ph.D.), 1954 369

23. A Hundred Years Under the Grand Lodge of Canada in Ontario,

1855-1955. (R. S. Foley), 1954 381

24. A Brief History of Geoffrey de St. Aldemar Preceptory, Sovereign Great
Priory of Canada, 1854-1954. (C.E. Wells), 1954 395

25. Thomas Gibbs Ridout, Freemason, 1792-1861. (J.E. Taylor), 1955 417

26. History of Capitular Masonry in Quebec. (A.J.B. Milborne), 1955 429

27. The History of the Sovereign Great Priory of Canada, Knights Templar,
1855-1905. (R. V. Harris), 1955 449

28. Bow River Lodge No. 1, Calgary, Alberta. (F.J. Hand), 1955 505

29. A Brief History of the Grand Lodge of Alberta, 1905-55. (S. Harris), 1955. 515

30. Royal Arch Masonry in Upper Canada Before 1858, Part II.

(R. V. Conover), 1955 521

31. Freemasonry in Canada Before 1750. (R.V. Harris), 1955 549

32. Rev. John Beardsley, Founder of Freemasonry in New Brunswick,
1732-1809. (R. V. Harris), 1956 574

33. Early Masonry in New Brunswick. (A.S. Robinson), 1956 585

34. Sir William Johnson, Bart, 1715-74. (Col. J. R. Case), 1956 595

35. Sir John Johnson, Bart, 1742-1830. (A. J. B. Milborne), 1956 600

36. Historical Sketch of Freemasonry in Saskatchewan. (R. A. Tate), 1957. . . . 609

37. A History of the Early Days of Freemasonry in British Columbia.

(W. G. Gamble), 1957 625

38. Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Bart, Grand Master, Provincial Grand Lodge,
A.F.& A.M. of Canada, under England, 1845-57 (W.J. Shaw), 1957 665

VOLUME TWO

39. The History of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish

Rite in Canada, Part I, 1868-1924. (R. V. Harris), 1957 683

40. The Correspondence between the Supreme Grand Chapter of England and

the Grand Chapter of Canada, 1857-62. (R. V. Conover), 1957 747

42. Hon. Jonathan Belcher, Chief Justice of Nova Scotia 1754-76, Provincial

Grand Master of Nova Scotia, 1760-76. (Hon. J. Doull), 1958 769

44. FreemasonryinOldCanadaandtheWarof 1812-15. (J. E.Taylor), 1958. . 781

45. The Great William Morgan Mystery. (R. V. Harris), 1958 799

46. Freemasonry at the Two Sieges of Louisbourg, 1745 and 1758.

(R. V. Harris, Col. J. R. Case and A. J. B. Milborne), 1958 811

47. The Story of the Elgin Lodge and other Scottish Lodges in the Province

of Quebec. (F. M. Driscoll), 1959 869

48. The Irish Civilian Lodges in Canada, 1820-88. (R. V. Harris), 1959 881

49. History of (Sion) Zion Lodge No. 21, F. & A.M. at Kingston and Sussex,
N.B., 1792-1959. (R.T. Pearson), 1959 915

50. The Story of Hiram Lodge No. 17, St. John, N.B., 1784-98.

(R. V. Harris), 1959 927

51. Captain Thompson Wilson and Early Freemasonry in London, Ontario.

(J. J. Talman), 1959 945

52. Canadian Influence on Early Michigan Masonry.

(J. F. Smith and C. Fey), 1959 957

53. William Mercer Wilson. (C. J. L. Lawer), 1960 973

54. George Canning Longley and his 300 Degrees. (R. V. Harris), 1960 983

55. An Outline History of Freemasonry in Prince Edward Island, 1758-1958.

(R. A. Gordon), 1960 993

57. William Jarvis, First Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada.

(J. L. Runnalls), 1961 1023

58. The Merchants' Lodges, Quebec. (A. J. B. Milborne), 1961 1037

59. John Ross Robertson, Freemason. (J. E. Taylor), 1961 1065

61. The Beginnings of Freemasonry in the City of St. Catharines, Ontario.

(M.J. McComb), 1961 1073

62. Niagara Lodge No. 2, G.R.C.O., Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario's Pioneer
Lodge. (J. L. Runnalls), 1961 1097

63. Daniel Spry, 1835-97. (R.A. W. Stewart), 1962 1131

64. Sir John Morison Gibson, K.C.M.G., LL.D., K.C. 1842-1929.

(J.L. Runnalls), 1962 1151

65. Augustus Toplady Freed, Grand Master, 1835-1924. (E.F. Greer), 1962. . . 1161

66. John Graves Simcoe: Freemason, Soldier, Statesman. (R. V. Harris), 1962. 1 167

67. Immortality and Freemasonry. (Archbishop W. L. Wright), 1962 1177

68. The Founding Fathers of the Grand Lodge of Manitoba. (W. Douglas), 1963. 1 183

69. The History of Kinistino Lodge No. 1, G.R.S. (R. Mayson), 1963 1195

70. John Walter Murton, Architect of the Scottish Rite in Canada.

(M. J. McComb), 1963 1221

71. Fables, Fallacies and Fictions Respecting Freemasonry. (R.V. Harris), 1963. 1229

72. The First Fifty Years of Perfection Lodge No. 9, Calgary, Alberta, 1895-1945.

(F. Parker), 1963 1243

73. Loyalist Masons of the Mohawk Valley. (E.F. Dougherty), 1963 1251

74. Kipling and Freemasonry. (R. A. Gordon), 1963 1263

75. Godfrey de Bouillon Preceptory No. 3, Hamilton, Ontario.

(R. V. Harris), 1964 1275

76. Colonel John Butler: Soldier, Loyalist, Freemason, 1725-96.

(W. W. MacDonald), 1964 1303

77. The Coloured Man in Freemasonry. (J. L. Runnalls), 1964 1329

78. Select Surveyors' Lodge and the Prevost Lodges, Quebec.

(A. J. B. Milborne), 1965 1345

79. American Masonic Roots in British Military Lodges. (Col. J. R. Case), 1965. 1393

VOLUME THREE

80. William James Dunlop, First President, CM. R.A. (R. S. Foley), 1965. . . . 1403

81. Making a Mason at Sight. (G.R. Sterling and J.L. Runnalls), 1966 1457

82. Thomas Bird Harris, First Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Canada,
1819-74. (J.E. Taylor), 1966 1473

83. Simon McGillivray, Canadian Merchant and Fur Trader, Second Provincial
Grand Master of Upper Canada, 1783-1840. (J.E. Taylor), 1966 1481

84. Plantagenet Preceptory No. 8, St. Catharines, 1866-1966. (E. F. Greer), 1966. 1497

85. Sussex Preceptory No. 9, Sherbrooke, Quebec, 1867-1967.

(J. R. Beattie), 1966 1523

86. The Story of Lodge "Glittering Star" No. 322 (Irish), 1759-1966, and The
Beginningof Knight Templary in Canada. (R.V. Harris), 1966 1545

87. The Grand Lodges of Canada, an Overview of Their Formation.

(C.C. Martin), 1967 1557

88. Cariboo Gold: the Story of Cariboo Lodge No. 469, S.R., and Cariboo
Lodge No. 4, B.C.R. (J.T. Marshall), 1967 1577

89. Masonry in the Centennial Setting. (Hon. D. M. Fleming), 1967 1627

90. Rev. Silas Huntington, The Apostle to the North, 1829-1905.

( J. L. Runnalls and J. W. Pilgrim), 1967 1643

92. Prophets and Builders. (Rev. W.G. Martin D. D.), 1967 1661

93. The First Masonic Lodges in Newfoundland. (R. V. Harris), 1967 1669

94. Joseph Richard Seymour, Founder of Scottish Rite Masonry and Royal
Order of Scotland in British Columbia. (E. F. Greer), 1967 1685

95. Clarence MacLeod Pitts, Freemason. (E. F. Greer), 1968 1693

96. The Schism of 1878 in the Grand Lodge of Manitoba.

(D. M. Silverberg), 1969 1707

97. (a) Reginald Vanderbilt Harris, a Tribute (R.E. Emmett), 1969.
(b) A brief History of the Canadian Masonic Research Association.

(J. L. Runnalls), 1969 1721

98. The Masonic Premiers of Manitoba. (R. E. Emmett), 1970 1733

99. Rituals in Canadian Masonic Jurisdictions. (J. E. Taylor), 1970 1743

100. The Development of the Ritual. (J. Morosnick), 1971 1757

101. Edward Ainslie Braithwaite, M.D., L.M., C.C., Pioneer Physician and
Freemasonofthe West. (O.P.Thomas), 1971 1769

102. The Masonic Premiers of Ontario, 1867-1971. (J. L. Runnalls), 1971 1781

103. History of Golden Rule Lodge No. 4, Stanstead, Quebec, 1813-69.

(E. Gustin), 1972 1797

104. Freemasonry at Kingston, Upper Canada, 1781-1850. (J.E. Taylor), 1972. 1817

105. The Cryptic Rite of Freemasonry in Canada; Hon. Robert Marshall; James
Bower Nixon. (C. E. Rich), 1972 1837

106. James Fitzgibbon, Deputy Grand Master, Provincial Grand Lodge of

Upper Canada, 1822-26. (C. E. Rich), 1973 1861

107. Dr. Peter Martin, M.D., Oronhyatekha. (C. E. Rich), 1973 1874

108. Freemasonry on the Miramichi. (J.D.S. Ullock), 1973 1885

109. (a) The Mark Degree. (R.J. Meekren), 1973.

(b) Robert J. Meekren - In Memoriam, (A.J.B. Milborne), 1973.

1828-49. (R. A. Gordon), 1973 1901

110. Lt. Col. Israel Wood Powell, M.D., CM., Physician, Statesman,
Freemason, 1836-1915. (J. L. Runnalls), 1974 1915

111. A Short History of Royal Arch Masonry in Nova Scotia. (R. V. Harris, ed.

E. L. Eaton), 1974 1929

1 12. Loyalist Masons in the Maritimes. (A. J. B. Milborne), 1974 1955

113. The University Lodge. (C. W. Booth), 1974 1997

1 14. A Hundred Years of Freemasonry in Manitoba. (R.E. Emmett), 1975 2017

115. Reminiscences in Research. (J.E. Taylor), 1975 2023

116. Masonic Publications in Canada. (G. Robinson and J.L. Runnalls), 1976. 2031

J ^ -_ . * I

No. 39

CANADIAN

ASSOCIATION

MASONIC RESEARCH l|

1957 i

|j !

11 THE HISTORY OF ji

Ii THE SUPREME COUNCIL OF THE il

ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE j'

IN CANADA i

m
m

I
PART I 1

1 868 - 1 924 I

BY ILL BRO. R. V. HARRIS, 33° i

W£

Read at the Twentieth meeting of the Association, I

at Hamilton, Ontario, May 14, 1957

a
s

^•« •■ ,. „_.ia_|,.^,a__aa .a— H— •■ ai— ■•— -■■ aa^-w h aa— .an-^aii aa a* u—n^*,^

—683—

The 33° Jciccl li'orn by II' in. J. B. McLcod Moorr,
the first in Canada,

—684—

History oF the Supreme Council

oF the
Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Canada

Part I
1868 - 1924

INTRODUCTORY

It will probably surprise the reader to learn that previously to 1868,
the degrees of Knight of the East or Sword, Knight or the East and
West, Prince of Jerusalem and Prince Rose Croix were conferred in what is
now Canada under Irish and Scottish authority. In the records of several of
the Royal Arch Chapters, established in Canada owing their origin and alle-
giance to the Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland, there are numerous in-
stances of degrees being conferred which in these later days are conferred in
Knight Templar, Scottish Rite and other bodies ; including Knight of the East
or Sword and Knight of the East and West, now conferred in our Scottish
Rite Chapters as the 15th and 16th.

For instance, in the minutes of St. Andrews Royal Arch Chapter No. 55,
(Reg. Scot.) now No. 2 (Reg. Nova Scotia) established in 1832, there are
frequent references to these two degrees conferred on its members as late as
1850.

Again under a warrant from the Great Priory of Ireland dated October
18th, 1855 to Thomas Bird Harris and others of Hamilton, Canada West,
authority was granted the petitioners to confer the first two of the above-named
degrees. No evidence has been found that such degrees were actually conferred,
and in 1859 the Encampment surrendered its warrant to the Great Priory of
Ireland and applied for a new warrant from the Provincial Grand Conclave
of "Canada" under the name of Godfrey de Bouillon Encampment, now No. 3.

Line of Descent

The Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite for the
Dominion of Canada was established under a patent dated July 15, 1874, from
the Supreme Council of England, Wales and the Dependencies of the British
Crown.

The Supreme Council of England was established in 1845, under a patent
from the Supreme Council for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United
States of America.

This last mentioned Supreme Council was formed in 1813 under a charter
from the Supreme Council at Charleston, South Carolina, which had been

—685—

organized in 1801, with a Constitution based on the Morin patent of 1761, the
Constitutions of 1762 and the Grand Constitutions of 1786.

The several bodies constituting the Supreme Council for Canada in 1874
were all established in the previous six years by Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore
acting under authority from the Supreme Council for England, Wales and the
dependencies of the British Crown.

Supreme Council of England

It will be of interest to insert here some particulars of the "Supreme Grand
Council of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of England and Wales, and Depen-
dencies of the British Crown."

Established in 1845, it consisted in 1868 of the following officers :

Charles John Vigne (Past Provincial Grand Warden of Somerset, Provin-
cial Grand Commander of Dorset)

Sovereign Grand Commander

Henry Charles Vernon (Past Provincial Grand Master and Provincial
Grand Commander of Worcestershire)

Lieut. Grand Commander

Capt. Nathaniel George Philips (Provincial Grand Commander of Cam-
bridge and Suffolk, member of Supreme Grand Council of Rites of
Ireland)

Grand Treasurer General

Col. Henry Clerk, F.R.S. (Provincial Grand Commander of Kent)

Grand Chancellor

John Glas Sandeman (member of Supreme Council of Rites of Ireland)

Grand Secretary General

Rev. William Henry Wentworth Atkins Bowyer (Past Grand Chaplain
of England)

Grand Chaplain

Col. Henry Atkins Bowyer, M.A. (Provincial Grand Master and Provincial
Grand Commander of Oxfordshire)

Past Sovereign Grand Commander
Henry Beaumont Leeson, M.D.

Past Sovereign Grand Commander

The headquarters of the Council were at 33 Golden Square, London, W.
and later 23 Belgrave Road, London S.W. The Supreme Council issued warrants
for Chapters Rose Croix which conferred all degrees from the 4° to the 18°.
The Supreme Grand Council itself conferred the 19° to the 32°. Only present
or past M.W. Sovereigns or brethren of three years standing in the 18° degree
were eligible to receive the 30°, 31° or 32°. The membership in the 31° and
32° was limited and the degrees were conferred only on invitation by the

—686—

Supreme Grand Council and following rather lengthy intervals. There were
only 21 members of the 32'^, 27 members of the 31° and 123 members of the
30° on the English roll. There were 25 Rose Croix Chapters, including one
in Rangoon (Burmah) Constantinople, Bombay, Melbourne (Australia) and
in Gibraltar.

There was no provision for conferring any of the degrees, other than the
18", 30°, 31° and 32° except by obligation.

William Jas. B. McLeod Moore 33°
Founder of the Rite m Canada

—687—

The first important figure in the history of the Rite in Canada was Col.
William J. B. McLeod Moore. Born in Kildare, Ireland in 1810, the eldest
son of Captain N. J. Moore of the 74th Regiment, he received his early
education in Aberdeen, proceeding at the age of fifteen years to Sandhurst,
and at 21 years to an Ensign's commission in the 69th Regiment in which he
served for twenty years, in the West Indies, Ireland, Malta, India, Burmah,
Bermuda, Gibraltar and Canada.

Entering Craft Masonry at the age of seventeen years, in Glenkindel
Lodge No. 333 in Aberdeen, he received the R.A. degree in the same city,
and the Knight Templar Order in 1844 in Ireland. While in Malta, 1847 - 51,
he revived the Templar Order from its lethargy and carried his enthusiasm
with him to Kingston, Canada West, where he resuscitated the dormant
Encampment now known as Hugh de Payens Premier Preceptory No. 1. His
long and distinguished career as head of the Order in Canada from 1854
until his death in 1890 is one of great courage and leadership.

He received the Scottish Rite degrees in the old Cerneau Council in New
York in February 1863 and was nominated by that Council as Deputy for
Canada, but excepting the creation of a few 33rds did not act on his com-
mission. In 1863 the Cerneau Council was merged with the Supreme Council
of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction U.S.A., from which the Supreme
Council of England itself had derived its origin in 1845 and which accepted
and ratified Moore's membership and commission (Proc. S. C. Can. 1929
p. 143).

At this time the Supreme Council of England claimed jurisdiction over
Canada as a dependency of the British Crown, and offered to appoint Moore
Ts one of their own Council with authority to introduce the Rite into
Canada.

Beginnings in Ontario
1867 - 74

In the allocution of Josiah Hayden Drummond, 33° Sovereign Grand
Commander of the Supreme Council, 33° for the Northern Masonic Juris-
diction, U.S.A., delivered in Boston, Mass., June 25, 1868, we find;

"In June last (1867) I was applied to through III. Alfred Creigh. 33°,
for authority to establish bodies of the Rite in Canada. Upon examination of
the Constitutions and their practical construction heretofore, I came to the
conclusion that that Province is within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Council
of England, etc. I learned, also, that that Council claimed the territory. 1
therefore not only declined, but forbade any participation in any movements
looking to the establishment of the Rite there without the consent of the
Supreme Council of that jurisdiction, and I advised application to the proper
authority. It was finally proposed that Sir W. B. McLeod Moore, 33°, an
lionorary member of the Supreme Council, (England) should forward to
England the proper evidence of his rank, be affiliated with that Supreme
Council, and then authorized to establish Bodies of the Rite in the Dominion.
This course was determined upon, and by my direction he was furnished with
the proper vouchers." (1868 N.J 12-13).

—688—

By whom the application through Alfred Creigh was made was not dis-
closed, but it would seem probable that it was Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore,
for when addressing the Provincial Conclave of Canada, K.T. at Ottawa, on
August 14, 1867, Col. McLeod Moore said:

"I consider it proper for me to make known to you that I have been in
communication with the illustrious heads of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite, 33°, for the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States, who have now
happily and satisfactorily established a union with the New York Council,
under Illustrious Grand Commander Josiah H. Drummond. He informs me
that as a Grand Commander of the 33°, I can establish a Grand Council in
the Dominion."

The minutes of the Supreme Council of England and Wales for October
8, 1867, record the receipt of a letter from Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand
Commander Southern Jurisdiction, relating to the establishment of the Scottish
Rite in Canada, and a reply indicating their favourable attitude. The correspon-
dence, however is not in the Pike files of the Southern jurisdiction.

Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore followed up his correspondence and in
the minutes of the Supreme Council of England for February 12, 1868, we
find a reference to a "certificate" issued to him giving him authority to
establish a Consistory of the 32° in Canada, but no additional information.

On April 4th, 1868, however we find that he wrote \V. Hyde Pullen. 32°,
Secretary ad interim of the Supreme Council for England and Wales enclosing

(1) his own obligation of allegiance

(2) an application (undated) for a warrant for a Consistory, Chapter,
Council and Lodge of Perfection

(3) his own recommendation

(4) letters from 111. Bros. J. W. Murton and Fred Webber of the Nor-
thern and Southern Jurisdictions, recommending the granting of the
application.

The First Petition

The application reads as follows :

"To the M. P. Sov. Gr. Commander and Members of the Supreme
Council 33 .*. for England and Wales and the Dependencies of the
British Crown.

The undersigned Masons of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite
of Freemasonry being desirous of propagating the principles of the Rite
in the Dominion of Canada. Respectfully request your Supreme Council
to grant us charters to open and hold a Lodge of Perfection Nth degree,
Council of Princes of Jerusalem 16th, Chapter of Rose Croix 18th and
Consistory of S.P.R.S. 32nd in the City of Hamilton. Province of Ontario
and Dominion aforesaid.

—689—

Your Petitioners promise due obedience to your Supreme Council
and the Constitutions and Statutes of your august body as well as the
ancient constitutions of the "Ancient and Accepted Rite."

W. J. B. McLeod Moore, 33° Northern Jurisdiction of U. States of
America, Laprairie, P. of Que.

J. W. Murton, 32° Southern Jurisdiction U.S. America, Hamilton,
Ontario, Canada.

-i-Kijir-r"—-;

*M^.t«»»t «•

A/aJ^ x*'

C^»A*'^ O »\ m n k< if — <r «

^s^

^:??t<'fe;

Ori.fjinal Petition for Scottish Rite bodies at Hamilton, April 1868

—690—

Alex. Allan Stevenson 32° Northern Jurisdiction, U. States of America,
Montreal, Canada.

Wm. M. Wilson 32°, Northern Jurisdiction, U.S.A., Simcoe, Ontario."

McLeod Moore later forwarded the obligation of allegiance of T. Douglas
Harington Z2° dated April 9th, 1868, on which date Moore conferred by
obligation, the degrees of the Rite upon him up to and including the 32°.

The First Rose Croix Chapter

In the Archives of the Supreme Council of England there is also the
original petition for the formation of a Rose Croix Chapter at London, Ont.
signed by Thompson Wilson, 18° of Invicta Chapter, England; Wm. J. B.
McLeod Moore and Thomas Douglas Harington. It is dated April 18th, 1868
and reads as follows :

To the Supreme council of Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the
thirty third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Free Masonry
for England, Wales and dependencies of the British Crown —

Greeting

Your petitioners Knights of the East and West and Perfect Princes
Free Masons of H.R.D.M. Knights of the Eagle and Pelican of Rose Croix
being anxious to increase their knowledge of Ancient Craft Masonry by the
cultivation of the Sub. and Sup. degrees of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite would respectfully solicit your honorable body to grant
power to open a chapter of Rose Croix Masons and confer that and all
other degrees from the 4th to the 17th inclusive of the A. and A . . Rite
under the Title of the London Chapter of Sovereign Princes Rose Croix
of H.R.D.M. and such other business as may appertain to the Grade, to be
held in the city of London, Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada. We
pledging ourselves to conform in all things to the Rules and Regulations
for the Government of Chapters of Rose Croix and abiding by the con-
stitutions, and regulations of the Order for England, Wales, and Depen-
dencies of the British Crown, The first M.W.S. to be Thompson Wilson
18°.

Given under our hands at London W.C. this eighteenth day of April
1868.

Thompson Wilson 18° (late of Invicta Chapter Woolwich R. -f de
H-R-D-M- England)

W. J. B. McL. Moore R. + de H.R.D.M. S.G.I.G. 33°

T. Douglas Harington R. + de H.R.D.M. - S.P.R.S. 32°

—691—

As far as we have learned, the members of the A. & A. S. Rite in Canada
in 1868 were :

Col. Wm. J. B. McL. Moore, LaPrairie 33'^
John W. Murton, Hamilton 32°

Alexander Allan Stevenson, Montreal 32^

Wm. Mercer Wilson, Simcoe

Capt. Thompson Wilson, London

Thomas Douglas Harington, Ottawa

Rev. James D. Gibson

Charles A. Birge

William Reid

William Edgar

Hugh Alex. MacKay

Joseph C. Franck

Thomas Bird Harris, Hamilton

Richard Ball

Robert Marshall, Saint John, N.B.

Christopher Besant, Saint John

Colin McKenzie, Saint John

Douglas G. Smith, Saint John

Robert Thomas Clinch, Saint John

William Henry Thorne, Saint John

32°
18°
32°
32°
32°
32°
32°
32°
32°
32°
32°
32"
18°
18°
32°
32°

Northern Juris. U.S.A.

Southern Juris. U.S.A.

Northern Juris.

Invicta Chapter, London, Eng.

Ottawa, April 9, 1868.

Southern Juris.

Northern Juris,

Northern and Southern Juris.

Northern Juris.

Northern Juris. 1867

A $^€m Mttt SiM^ m^Y^ r#>i»< , TfJL ,

Original Dispoisation for Scottish Rite bodies in Canada May 14, 1868

—692—

The First Dispensation

At a meeting of the Supreme Council for England held May 6th, 1868 it
was resolved to grant a warrant in favour of Col. McLeod Moore. Copies of
the dispensation issued to Col. McLeod Moore and the letter of instructions
which accompanied the dispensation both dated May 14, 1868, both in the hand-
writing of Capt. N. G. Philips, Grand Secretary General are preserved in the
letter book of the Supreme Council for England. These two documents un-
doubtedly constitute the original authority under which McLeod Moore acted
in establishing the Scottish Rite bodies at London, Hamilton and Toronto.
This dispensation reads as follows :

"Our Illustrious Most Valiant and Sublime Princes of the Royal
Secret, Knights K-H Illustrious Princes and Knights Grand Ineffable and
Sublime, Free and Accepted Masons of all degrees, Ancient and Modern,
over the surface of the two Hemispheres,

To All, to whom these letters may come. We

Do hereby grant a dispensation to our Illustrious Brother W. J. Bury
McLeod Moore, 33rd Degree, Our Representative in the Dominion of
Canada, with full power to open a Consistory of Sublime Princes of the
Royal Secret, and issue Warrants for Rose Croix Chapters, Councils of
Princes of Jerusalem, & Grand Lodges of Perfection, for which this shall
be sufficient authority until the warrant granted on the 6th May, 1868,
is duly prepared and received by the above named Illustrious Brother.

Given under my hand and seal by order of the S.G.C. on the 14th
May, 1868.

23 Belgrave Road, London S.W. (Sgd) Natl. Geo. Philips, 33""

Grand Secretary Gen'l, H.E., S.G.C.
England and Wales &c.

It is the opinion of the present Grand Secretary General (Col. E. G.
Dunn) that McLeod Moore had no other authority than this dispensation until
some time in October or November 1868.

The letter of instructions of May 14, 1868, acknowledged receipt of Moore's
letter of April 4 and enclosures and contained the following interesting
paragraphs :

"An application has been made to us by Capt. Wilson, but as you are
now our Representative you have now the power to grant.

"I iiope to send you by this mail or next week your Patent as S.G.I.G.
33'^, The Rules & Regulations and list of Members, Rituals of the Rose
Croix degree & Installation of M.W.S. of Chapter and the 31st & 32nd
Degrees. We never work the last in extensia in this country, and find
that the ceremony I send you is sufficient. In a short time however I hope
to send you a longer ceremony for it.

—693—

"We do not at present work the intermediate degrees, but they are given
by communication before the 18th degree is conferred, but I beheve it is con-
templated to work certain of them, and as soon as it is finally settled I will
let you know — You have no doubt got a copy of Albert Pike's translation of
the Ancient Constitution. It is very similar to ours, and if you act up to the
Rules therein laid down you cannot go wrong. The 30° can only be conferred in
the presence of 3 Sov. Gd. Insp. Genls. 33°, & the fees for it as well as the
Higher Degrees are 10 guineas or the equivalent in the currency of the Country.
I should recommend your starting only one Consistory of the 32°. We have
only one here and keep it entirely under our own care. Please read the obliga-
tion of allegiance over carefully to those who wish to be affiliated, as it pre-
vents their holding any communication with members of the Baldwin Bristol,
or any other body unrecognised by us.

"This, I may explain, does not allude to their visiting in Blue, Arch or
Templar Masonry, but refers only to those degrees that are more particularly
under our own charge, like the intermediate degrees, Rose Croix, etc. There
are certain degrees which belong to us called Knights of the Sword, or East,
East & West, which in Ireland are conferred before the Templar and have
also I believe been worked in Canada.

"I think Bro. Starkey of Conduit Street, Regent Street, is about the best
man to get clothing, jewel, etc. for High Degrees. I will get him to send you
a list of things."

The Rite Begins — Moore Consistory

McLeod Moore and his associates lost no time in acting on the authority
of their dispensation, and proceeded to organize a Consistory on July 10th,
1868, and a Chapter Rose Croix on July 14, 1868.

In the English Archives are the "Minutes of an Assemblage of Sublime
Princes of Royal Secret 32° A. & A.R. held in the Hall of St. George's
Lodge Y.R.F. (York Rite Freemasonry) in the City of London on Friday
the 10th day of July A.D. 1868."

These minutes record that the Supreme Council in England "had ordered
the issue of a warrant for a Consistory 32° to be held at Hamilton as soon
as it could be prepared, and had in the meantime forwarded a Dispensation
giving him full powers to open said Consistory and further to grant warrant
to hold Sovereign Rose Croix Chapters etc., etc. in the said Dominion."

He then named the following as the first members of the said Consistory:

W. J. B. McLeod Moore 33°

Thomas D. Harington 32° (absent from meeting)

John W. Murton 32°

Alexander A. Stevenson 32° (absent)

Rev. James D. Gibson 32°

Capt. Thompson Wilson 32°

Charles A. Birge 32°

William Reid 32°

Hugh Alex. MacKay 32"

»o

William Edgar 32°

—694—

and dedicated the Consistory under the title of Moore Sovereign Consistory
S.P.R.S. 32° to meet at Hamilton.

He then declared himself Commander in Chief and then appointed and
installed the following officers :

John W. Murton
Thos. D. Harington
Rev. James D. Gibson
Charles A. Birge
Hugh A. MacKay

William Reid
Capt. Thompson Wilson
Richard Bull
William Edgar
Alex. A. Stevenson
J. C. Franck

Moore Consistory

1st Lieut. Commander

2nd Lieut. Commander

Orator and Minister of State

Grand Chancellor

Grand Secretary and Keeper of Seal

Grand Treasurer

Grand Engineer and Architect

Grand Hospitaler

Grand Master of Cer,

Grand Capt. of Guard

Grand Standard Bearer

Member

Grand Sentinel not appointed.

The next assembly of Moore Consistory was held in Hamilton on De-
cember 8, 1868 and was opened in ample form at 8.00 p.m. with J. W. Murton,
33° Acting Commander in Chief presiding and Hugh A. MacKay as Grand
Secretary, when the minutes of the London meeting were read and confirmed,
and a commitl:ee appointed to draft bylaws.

The next assembly was not held till August 10, 1871, at which T, D.
Harington 33° read his commission as Representative of the Supreme Council
for England and handed over to the Grand Secretary the warrant for the
Consistory.

Fees were fixed as follows :

4° - 18° $40.00; 19° - 30° $20.00;

Officers were then elected as follows :

31° and 32° $40.00

T. D. Harington 33°
J. W. Murton 33°
Thos. Bird Harris 33°
Hugh A. MacKay 32°
J. K. Kerr 32°

Commander in Chief
1st Lieut. Comm.
2nd Lieut. Comm.
Grand Chancellor & Secy.
Grand Treasurer

Later meetings were held regularly and much constructive work done,
although, pending the arrival of copies of the ritual which were secured by
Bro. Murton from Albert Pike, Sovereign Grand Commander of the Southern
Jurisdiction, no degrees were exemplified until March 7, 1872 when ten
Sovereign Princes were advanced to the 30°. These included John Morison
Gibson, Hugh Murray, John J. Mason and John Stevenson of whom we shall
later hear much.

—695—

Owing to his inability to attend meetings, T. D. Harington later expressed
a desire to relinquish his office, and on October 1st, 1873, John W. Murton
was elected Commander in Chief. At this meeting and again on January 7th
and P>bruary 5th, 1874, resolutions were adopted endorsing the proposals for
the establishment of a Supreme Council for Canada.

Hamilton Rose Croix Chapter

Following the closing of the Consistory at London, on July 14, 1868,
Moore opened a Chapter Rose Croix consisting of the same brethren, to be
known as "Hamilton Chapter" and granted them authority to open and hold
a Chapter Rose Croix and under it a Council of Princes of Jerusalem and
Lodge of Perfection, the terms of the warrant to be settled as soon as he
could return to LaPrairie, Que.

Moore then installed John W. Murton as first Most Wise Sovereign and
delegated to him authority to install the remaining officers.

About a month after its institution in London, Hamilton Chapter held its
second assembly on August 6, 1868, when J. W. Murton, William Reid, C. A.
Birge, W. Edgar and H. A. MacKay met in the Masonic rooms at Hamilton,
when John W. Murton appointed as M.W.S. declared the Chapter open. An
election by ballot was held for the remaining^ officers to hold office until
Maundy Thursday, 1869.

On March 25, 1869 a code of bylaws was adopted and the following
officers of the Chapter were elected, as follows :

John W. Murton 33° Most Wise Sovereign

Hugh A. MacKay 32°

William Reid 32°

Edward Mitchell 18°

Richard Brierley 18°

William Edgar Z2°

James Charlton 18°

Wm. T. Mundy 18°

Charles A. Birge 32°

Charles R. Murray 18°

High Prelate

1st General

2nd General

Registrar-Treasurer

Grand Marshal

Raphael

Director of Ceremonies

Herald

Captain of the Guard

London Chapter Rose Croix

Although the minutes in the English Archives make no reference to the
formation of a Rose Croix Chapter at London, Ont., it is a matter of record
that on the same day and immediately after the institution of the Hamilton
Chapter, the officers of that Chapter with John W. Murton presiding, con-
ferred the degrees from the 4th to the 18th on several Master Masons resident
in London, and that a Chapter of Rose Croix was then instituted by Moore
himself under the name of London Sovereign Chapter Rose Croix with
Thompson Wilson as first M.W.S.

Thus were founded the first Consistory and Rose Croix Chapters of the
Rite in Canada.

—696—

On August 12, 1868 McLeod Moore reported to the Graml Priory,
Knights Templar of Canada.

"I have already acted upon my authority and formed a Grand Consistory
at Hamilton, and a Rose Croix Chapter as also a Chapter of Rose Croix at
London, Out., and shortly purpose issuing a warrant for one in this city
(Montreal)."

Warrants Arrive

In due course warrants for the London and Hamilton bodies were issued
in England and forwarded to the proper officers. That issued to the Hamilton
Chapter reads as follows :

UNIVERSI TERRARUM ORBIS ARCHITECTONIS AD GLORLAM

INGENTIS

ORDO AB CHAO

From the East of the Supreme Grand Council of the Sovereign Grand
Inspectors General of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite
of Freemasonry for England and Wales, and the Dependencies of Great
Britain under the C. C. of the Zenith, near the B. •. B. •. answering to 51° 30'
N. •. Lat. •. and 6' W. •. Meridian of Greenwich.

To our Illustrious Princes and Knights Grand Ineffable and Sublime,
Free and Accepted Masons of all Degrees, Ancient and Modern, over the
surface of the Two Hemispheres,

To all to whom these Presents may come :

HEALTH, STABILITY, POWER.-.

Know Ye, That we, the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, lawfully
and constitutionally established at our Grand East London in Supreme
Council of the 33rd and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of
Freemasonry and duly congregated this 24th day of Tamuz Anno Hebraicis
5628 .^nno Lucis 5872 which corresponds to the 14th day of July Anno Christi
1868 A. Ords 750 and A : M. 554 at our Grand Council Chamber a Sacred
Asylum where reign

UNION, CONTENTMENT, WISDOM

Do By These Presents Declare, That we have duly considered and ac-
cepted a Petition from the Ills. Bro. John W. Murton and have ordered the
same to be deposited in the Archives of our Council, Wherefore Be It Known,
That we hereby authorize and enpower our trusty and well beloved Bro. John
W. Murton. 32°. H. A. MacKay, 32°. Revd. James D. Gibson, 32°. Charles
A. Birge. 32°. Wm. Fldgar, 32°. Wm. Reid, 32°. to constitute and hold a

—697—

SOVEREIGN CHAPTER ROSE CROIX OF HARODIM at Hamilton,
Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, under the title of

THE HAMILTON CHAPTER;

and in conjunction therewith and in subordination thereto to hold a meeting
or Lodge in each of the several Ineffable degrees from the Fourth to the
Fourteenth inclusive, and to confer therein respectively the degrees thereto
belonging, viz :

4th — Secret Master.

5th — Perfect Master.

6th — Intimate Secretary,

7th — Provost and Judge.

8th — Intendant of the Buildings.

9th — Elected Knight of Nine.

10th — Illustrious Elected Knight of Fifteen,

llth — Sublime Knight Elect.

12th — Grand Master Architect.

13th — Ancient Master of the Royal Arch.

14th — Grand Elect and Perfect Master and Sublime Mason.

Also power and Authority to hold Councils in the 15th and 16th and 17th
degrees and to confer therein the degrees thereto belonging, viz. —

15th — Knight of the East and of the Sword.

16th — Prince of Jerusalem.

17th — Knight of the East and of the West.

and finally power and authority to hold a Royal Chapter Rose Croix of H.-.
R. •. D. •. M. •., or Knight of the White Eagle and Pelican. Provided always
and it is hereby enjoined on pain of expulsion, and forfeiture of the powers
hereby conferred : —

That every candidate shall be a Master Mason, duly received and initiated
into Masonry. That he shall have taken and signed the obligation of Allegiance
to this Supreme Council, and that such obligation of Allegiance, with partic-
ulars of residence, profession & c, shall be duly forwarded to the Grand Sec-
retary General of the Sup. Gd. Council.

That the time and place of Meeting of the Lodges and Councils in the
several degrees be likewise duly forwarded for Registry to the said Ills. Grd.
Secy., and that all Fees for Registry and Certificates be faithfully paid.

That a copy of all By-Laws be similarly forwarded for approval and
Registration, and that no By-Laws shall be valid until a copy of the same
shall have been so sent for the sanction of the Supreme Grand Council.

That the Ancient Laws and Constitutions of the Order, and the decrees of
the Sup. . Gr. . Council be duly practised and enforced, and that any Member
or Members offending against the same be expelled, unless upon appeal to the
Supreme Council such decision be reversed or altered.

-^98—

And We Hereby Proclaim such Chapter to be registered under the Title

THE HAMILTON CHAPTER

of Sovereign Princes Rose Croix of H. •. R. •. D. •. M. •., and we proclaim
our Illustrious Br. John W. Murton, to be the Most Wise Sovereign thereof,
deputing to him in conjunction with the aforesaid trusty and well-beloved
Brethren to establish the same in conformity with the Ancient Laws and
Constitutions of the Order.

In Witness whereof We, the undersigned, Sovereigns Grand Inspectors
General, Members of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree for England
and Wales and the Dependencies of the British Crown, have hereunto sub-
scribed our Names, and have affixed hereto, the Grand Seal of the Illustrious
Order.

Henry A. Bowyer

Rt. of H.R.D.M., K.H., S.P.R.S.

Sov. Grand Commander, 33°.

H. E. Vernon

Rt. of H.R.D.M., K.H., S.P.R.S.

Grand Treasurer 33°.

Nathl, Geo. Philips

Rt. of H.R.D.M., K.H., S.P.R.S.

Grand Secretary General 33°.

W. J. B. McL. Moore

Rt. of H.R.D.M., K.H., S.P.R.S.

Sov. Gr. Ins. Gen. 33 : Representative of the Su. Gr. Co. for Canada.

Registered in the Archives of the Supreme Gr. Council 33°.

Ill

Beginnings in New Brunswick
1867 - 74

From the evidence available it is clear that parallel with his efforts to
establish the Rite in Ontario, McLeod Moore was co-operating with Robert
Marshall of Saint John, New Brunswick to establish similar bodies in that
Province. While no record is to be found in the English Archives, it is definitely
established from other sources that Robert Marshall received his degrees 4°
to 32° in Boston, Mass., in 1867 and that simultaneously with the application
to the Supreme Council in England in April 1868, by McLeod Moore and
others for the establishment of Scottish Rite bodies in Hamilton and London,
Robert Marshall, 32°, Christopher Besant 18°, Colin McKenzie 18°, Douglas
G. Smith 32°, W. J. B. McLeod Moore 33°, and Thomas Douglas Harington
32°, petitioned the Supreme Council for a warrant for a Rose Croix Chapter
at Saint John, N.B., and that a warrant dated May 6th, 1868, was later issued

—699—

by the Supreme Council to the petitioners, empowering them, to constitute
and hold a Sovereign Chapter Rose Croix of Harodim, at St. John, New
Brunswick, Dominion of Canada, under the title of the

MOORE CHAPTER OF SOVEREIGN PRINCES ROSE CROIX,

H.R.D.M.

The warrant was in similar terms as that for the Hamilton Chapter,
and named "our illustrious brother ROBERT MARSHALL, 32°,
to be the Most Wise Sovereign thereof, deputing to him in conjunction with the
aforesaid trusty and well-beloved brethren, to establish the same in conformity
with the Ancient Laws and Constitutions of the Order,*' and was signed by
the same officers of the Supreme Council as in the Hamilton warrant.

Robert Marshall 33°
Founder of the Rite in Neiv Brunszvick

—700—

Robert Marshall was born at Pictou N.S., April 21, 1832, and five
years later removed with his parents to Chatham, N.B., where he was
educated in the Grammar School. In 1859 re removed to Saint John on his
appointment as accountant with the New Brunswick Railway. In 1866 he com-
menced an insurance business, representing several of the largest companies
as General Agent for the Province. He entered fully into the general life
of the city and served on the Boards of many philanthropic and benevolent
organizations including the Y.M.C.A., the Protestant Orphanage, St. Andrew's
Society and the Board of Fire Underwriters.

In 1874 he contested the City of Saint John for the Provincial Legislature
but was unsuccessful. In 1876 he was elected and in a by-election in 1877 was
se-elected by acclamation. In the general elections of 1878 he was again elected,
and in the following year became a member of the Cabinet without portfolio,
continuing until 1882.

He was made a Mason in Union Lodge of Portland No. 780 English
Constn. February 16, 1860, later becoming Master of the Lodge. On the
formation of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick in 1867 he took an active
part, and was Vice-President ot the Board of General Purposes. He served
as Deputy Grand Master and in 1878 was elected Grand Master, serving for
two years.

Active in all branches of Masonry, he received the degrees of the Rite \'\
Boston in 1867 and in 1870 was created a ^t})"^ Mason by the Supreme Council
of England and Wales. On the formation of the Supreme Ccnmcii of Canada
in 1874 he was appointed Lieut. Grajid Commander as well as Deputy for New
Brunswick. He retained these offices until 1880 when he resigned both.

In 1884 he was elected Deputy for Nova Scotia and succeeded in 1885 in
forming a Consistory in that Province. In 1895 he was elected Deputy for
New Brunswick, filling the office for three years. After a long illness, he
died at Saint John on May 26th, 1904.

It would seem probable from other evidence that both warrants were not
completed until October 13, 1868, when they were both sent to McLeod Moore
and after being signed by him they were sent to T. D. Harington and Robert
Marshall respectively. No duplicate original of either warrant was made or
kept by the Supreme Council of England. The only copies are found in printed
bylaws of the two Chapters still preserved. The original McLeod Moore
warrant was probably burned in a fire which destroyed McLeod Moore's home
at Laprairie, P.Q. in the early 80's and the original Marshall warrant was
undoubtedly burned in the great Saint John fire June 20, 1877. Col. Dunn
writes that both these warrants were in the same form as used in England
at the present day, that is, as set out in the copy of the Hamilton warrant
dated July 14, 1868.

It will be noted that this Charter is dated May 6th, 1868 and refers to
the receipt of a Petition from Robert Marshall, Christopher Besant, Colin
McKenzie, David G. Smith, W. J. B. McLeod Moore and Thomas Douglas
Harington plainly showing concerted action on the part of the two groups of
Petitioners, those in Ontario and those in New Brunswick.

Keith Chapter, Halifax

Among the first candidates for degrees in Moore Chapter was Joseph
Conway Brown of Halifax, who with others received his 18° in April 1870.

—701 —

Along with two officers in the 78th Highlanders, then stationed in Halifax,
(Col. Charles E. Croker-Kir.g 18'^ and Captain George Lecky, 18°) who had
both received their degrees in Europa Chapter, at Gibraltar, Brown petitioned
Robert Marshall 33°, Inspector-General for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,
for a warrant for a new Chapter in Halifax, to be known as Keith Rose Croix
Chapter. The Warrant was issued by the Supreme Council in England on
October 11, 1870, and the Chapter organized on January 19, 1871, becoming
the second Scottish Rite body in the Maritime Provinces.

The Supreme Council of Scotland in New Brunswick

It is however clear that the plans of McLeod Moore and Robert Marshall
and their associates soon became known outside their circle and it is not sur-
prising to learn that the Supreme Council 33° A. & A.S. Rite for Scotland
sitting at Edinburgh on March 14th, 1871 received "an application from
certain brethren in St. John, New Brunswick, members of the Royal Order
of Scotland, wishing that the higher degrees of the Rite should be duly estab-
lished in that colony and asking for a dispensation to Brother Robert T.
Clinch, a member of the 32° degree to duly obligate the petitioners as 18th
and up to and inclusive of the 3(Xh, with a view to their applying for a proper
warrant for the working of these degrees."

The petitioners for this warrant were,

Robert Thomson Clinch 32°

Christopher Murray 30°

Benjamin Lester Peters 30°

John Valentine Ellis 30°

Edward Willis 30°

Edwin James Everett 30°

Alexander Rankin 30°

On this occasion J. Whyte Melville, Sov. Grand Commander presided and
it was resolved that "a proper dispensation to Bro. Clinch be prepared and
sent to him."

At the sitting of the Supreme Council on May 8th, 1871, the draft dispen-
sation was laid before the meeting, approved and signed.

On receipt of this dispensation, Bro. Clinch, obligated the petitioners up
to and including the 32° and then prepared a further petition signed by himself
and "other members of the Rose Croix Chapter and Consistory of Edinburgh
residing in the City of St. John, New Brunswick, for authority to open a
Chapter of Princes Rose Croix and a Consistory of K. — H. or 30th degree
in that Province."

This petition was placed before the meeting of the Supreme Council on
August 9th, 1871, when the issue of a Charter was authorized with precedence
as from that date. This petition was signed by Robert Thomson Clinch, John
Valentine Ellis, Edward Willis, Edwin James Everett and Alexander Rankin,
all 30°.

—702-

The Charter or warrant isued August 9th, 1871, was signed by J. Whyte
Melville of Bennochy, 33° Sovereign Grand Commander, Alexander J. Stewart
33"^ Grand Secretary H.E., and Dr. Samuel Somerville of Ampherlaw, Grand
Treasurer.

These two new bodies were constituted and consecrated at Saint John on
November 3, 1871.

The by-laws of the new Chapter (known as the New Brunswick Chapter
Rose Croix) and of the Council (known as the New Brunswick Council K-H.)
were approved by the Supreme Council at its meeting on January 31st, 1872.

Rivalry

Faced with thi? invasion of what it regarded as its own exclusive territory,
the Supreme Council of England on October 20th, 1871 proposed to its sister
Councils of Scotland and Ireland "that an understanding should be established
between (them) to the effect that whenever any one of these Councils shall have
established the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in any of the Colonies the
other two Councils should leave that Colony under the exclusive jurisdiction
of the Council that had first established the Rite."

This proposal was discussed at several meetings aiid on July 4th, 1872, the
Supreme Council of Scotland agreed to it with the proviso that such proposal
should not apply to the two newly established bodies in New Brunswick.

The Supreme Council for England and Wales thereupon on July 27th,
1872, authorized Robert Marshall 33rd, its representative for New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia to open a Consistory, 32nd S.P.R.S. at Saint John and to
establish subordinate bodies of the Rite. By virtue of his authority, Bro.
Marshall organized and consecrated Harington Sovereign Consistory, at
Saint John, on September 12th, 1872 (named after Bro. T. Douglas Harington
of Quebec.) with jurisdiction over New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince
Edward Island and also a Grand Council of the Thirty-third Degree lor
the Maritime Provinces with authority co-equal with the Consistory and Grand
Council established at Hamilton in Ontario. These two Grand Councils at
St. John and Hamilton, continued as independent ruling Grand Bodies of the
Rite, for the next two years, subordinate only to the Supreme Council of
England and Wales.

The petitioners in this instance were:

Robert Marshall 33

Thomas Douglas Harington 33

William J. B. McLeod Moore 33

David G. Smith 32

James Domville 32

David Ransom Munro 32

Hugh Williams Chisholm 32

William Henry Thorne 3

J. G. A. LeBlanc 32°

William D. Forster 32°

—703—

o
TO

The Grand Couxtii. for the Maritime Provinces

The incnibcrs of this Grand Council were Robert Marshall 33° appointed
Grand Representative for the Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia
by patent from the Sui)reme Council for England, Wales etc., dated October
9th, 1872. and

James Domville 33°

David Ransom Munro 33°

Alfred D. Goodwin 32°

Registrar of the Grand Council
Hugh Williams Chisholm 33'^

From a rare copy of the "Rules and Regulations for the Government of
the Ancient and Accepted Rite in the Maritime Provinces, Dominion of Can-
ada," published in Saint John. N.B., in 1873, we learn that it was "deemed
expedient to adopt a system of local government and supervision which
will tend to the advancement of the Rite, and at the same time work in harmony
v.ith the Consistory in the other portion of the Dominion of Canada, with its
Grand East at Hamilton x x x and more directly assimilate with the working
and regulations of the Supreme Councils of the Northern and Southern juris-
dictions of the United States of America."

This Grand Council had jurisdiction over Harington Sovereign Consistory,
Saint John, N.B., Moore Chapter Rose Croix, Saint John; Keith Chapter,
Rose Croix, Halifax, N.S. ; and other bodies of the Rite which might be
established in the Maritime Provinces, always subject to an appeal from any
of its decisions to the 111. Representative of the Supreme Council of England,
Wales, etc., in the Maritime Provinces. The representative was given power
"to enforce a uniformity in the rituals to be observed in conferring the several
grades."

The Grand Council had no authority to grant warrants for new bodies but
in such cases made its recommendation to the Supreme Council in England.

Minimum fees for the degrees were fixed as follows:

40° to 18° inclusive $40.00

19° to 30° inclusive $20.00

31° $20.00

T,?° $20.00

Affiliating brethren hailing from bodies under the Supreme Council of Eng-
land were required to pay a joining fee of ten dollars and from other juris-
dictions, twenty dollars.

The Regulations also provided that unless the candidate was a Past M. W.
Sovereign a period of twelve months must elapse between the 18° and 30°,
also between the 30° and 31° six months, and a similar period between the

51° and 32". The 32° recjuired the personal approval and presence of at least

three Sovereign (jrand Inspectors General 33°.

—704—

The ritual prescribed for the 4° to the 17° and from the 19° to 29°
inclusive was that of the Northern jurisdiction of the United States, while
the ceremonies for the 18°, 30°, 31° and ?>2° were to follow the ritual of the
Supreme Council of England, Wales, etc. The 4°, 5°, 14° and 18° were to be
conferred in extenso.

These regulations and rules were adopted at the City of Saint John, N.B.,
on January 8, 1873, by Robert Marshall, James Domville, D. Ransom Munro,
and H. W. Chisholm, and confirmed by the Supreme Council in London in
April 1873.

Formation of o Supreme Council for Canada 1874

From the constant association and frequent visitations of members of the
Rite in the Dominion with brethren in the United States, it seemed desirable
that the system in Canada should assimilate as nearly as possible with the
bodies of the Rite in the Northern and Southern jurisdictions. One of the
difficulties restricting the extension of the Rite in Canada under the English
regime was the fact that only the 18th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd degrees were
conferred with full ceremonies, and no provision was made for conferring any
of the other degrees, which under the American system were regarded as in
many respects, as important as the four mentioned. Other difficulties were
the high scale of fees and the long intervals required between degrees.

Although some modification was made in respect of fees and intervals
between degrees, the heads of the Rite in the Dominion, after mature con-
sideration came to the conclusion that unless the Rite were placed under its own
sovereign body, as other branches of the Craft in Canada, it would not com-
mand the respect to which through its intrinsic merit it was entitled, and an
earnest request was therefore made by the Grand Council at Hamilton to the
Supreme Council for authority to establish a Supreme Council for the Dominion
of Canada.

The Supreme Council in England thereupon requested the opinion of the
various bodies of the Rite in Canada in order to learn whether the desire for
independence proceeded from the members of the 33rd Degree only or from
the membership generally.

From the minutes of Keith Chapter, Halifax, we learn that in January
1874 a communication was received from the Grand Secy-General in England
requesting Keith Chapter to vote on the question of the establishing of the
Canadian bodies under a Supreme Council as an independent and sovereign
body.

At the February meeting a resolution was passed agreeing to join in the
formation of such a body provided all Consistories, Chapters and Lodges in
Canada, both of the English and Scottish jurisdictions united in the movement.
Subsequently the promoters of independence succeeded in securing the cooper-
ation of the Scottish bodies centered at St. John, and thus removed the objection
made by Keith Chapter to the contemplated union.

—705—

> -ii.

*• »

. -^'V»«-'"i^'m''^»*»*^ ^^^

(Tjf I0K, vimtxxxmBn, n^iMM,

!*^ ^fX'^"/

:'tCp «ttt> ^^fiot^tlba^

^-«.i:

o .. -^j,. V i, , <. •>;,^,i4! ^...'•••«-'.y •/•;««'/-.■. tc-v**^ ; :' ' 'wZ/^j?-

»j& ,A^&»#> ^\ff'4><»

^flwifTTf

• ^t-yi*!^ r»^«l^'

llii>W y'^fcyj. g-^fcii At'ilirj /^5rt«^/- ,

^^/^t^f'trf /i/ff" :/ r '/iitt *f»''^ytrit ,^y^ »>n/.A^»4^ Sl>>**r^<^/'H^Lf A^l**'''4i'riff*MA «^?C/v»^-/ <w^* . %/i^,t>.nt ..,.„

Appointment of Thomas Douglas Harinijton as Sov. Grand Co)iiniandcr 1S74

—706—

111. Bros. Robert Marshall, J. K. Kerr, and T. D. Harington, representing
the proposed new Supreme Council, offered to reserve three seats for Nova
Scotia in the proposed Supreme Council, for Canada, and to give the members
of Keith Chapter the opportunity of receiving the 30th, 31st and 32nd degrees,
provided Keith Chapter came into the union. Keith Chapter thereupon unan-
imously agreed to join the movement and the arrangement was later confirmed
by the Supreme Council. The vote everywhere proved to be unanimous for
separation and the Supreme Council of England immediately issued a Patent
to 111. Bro. T. D. Harington, their representative in the Dominion, the Grand
East to be Ottawa, and 111. Bro. Harington to be Sovereign Grand Commander
ad vitam.

Warrant To Thos. D. Harington

On July 15, 1874 a warrant was issued in London, England appointing
Thomas Douglas Harington as Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the
33rd degree and an Honorary member of the Grand and Supreme Council
for England, Wales and the Colonies, with power to form, organize and
establish a Grand and Supreme Council for the Dominion of Canada and
creating him Sovereign Grand Commander ad vitam.

This document reads as follows :

Albert EbmarJi

Grand Patron of A. & A. S. Rite SS"" ,
Eng. & Wales

FROM THE EAST of the SUPREME COUNCIL of the Sovereign
Grand Inspectors General of the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite
of FREEMASONRY for England and Wales and the Dependencies of Great
Britain under the C.C. of the Zenith near the B.B. answering to 51° 30' N.
Lat. and 6' W. Meridian of Greenzvich.

TO Our Illustrious Princes and Knights, Grand Ineffable and Sublime,
Free and Accepted Masons of all Degrees, ancient and modern over the surface
of the Tivo Hemispheres.

TO ALL to ivhom these Presents may Come.

HEALTH, STABILITY, POWER.

KNOW YE That We the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General laivfully
and constitutionally established at Our GRAND EAST LONDON in Supreme
Council of the 33rd and last degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of
Freemasonry and duly congregated this first day of Ab, Anno H^K 5634 Anno
Lucis 5878, which corresponds to the 15th day of July Anno Christi 1874 A.
Ords. 756 and A.M. 560, at our Grand Council Chamber a Sacred Asylum
zvhere reign

UNION, CONTENTMENT, WISDOM,

DO BY THESE PRESENTS DECLARE

And do hereby Certify and Acknozuledge
THAT Our Illustrious Brother,

—707—

At present residing in Ottawa, in the Dominion of Canada, is Master
and Past Master of all Symbolic Lodges, Secret Master, Etc., Sublime Prince
of the Royal Secret, and

SOVEREIGN GRAND INSPECTOR GENERAL of the

THIRTY THIRD DEGREE

With all Supreme Rights, Prerogatives, and Immunities, appertaining to that
Eminent Degree and OFFICIAL DIGNITY-

WE FURTHERMORE Nominate and appoint our said Illustrious Brother
THOMAS DOUGLAS HARINGTON to be an Honorary Member of our
Grand and Supreme Council of the Third-third Degree for England, Wales
& the Colonies, zvith full power & Authority to Form, Organise & Establish,
agreeably to the Grand Constitutions of Our Illustrious Order, Dated at Berlin
in Prussia A.D. 1786, a Grand and Supreme Council of the Most Puissant
Soz'ereigns, Grand Inspectors General of the Thirty-third Degree for the
Dominion of Canada to hold their Grand East in the City of Qttaiva.

WE HEREBY Appoint, Constitute and Acknozvledgc our said Illustrious

Brother

St^amaa Snuglaa HarUtgtutt

to be the Most Puissant Sovereign Grand Commander, ad vitam.

WHEREFORE, We, have deemed it advisable to deliver to him these
Credentials, enjoining & commanding all our Aforesaid Illustrious Princes,
Knights and Sublime Masons over the Surface of the Two Hemispheres to
receive and acknozvledgc, obey and submit, to our said Most Illustrious Brother
THOMAS DOUGLAS HARINGTON in all his aforesaid Eminent Degrees,
Qualities and Official Dignities.

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, We, the Aforesaid Most Puissant
Sovereign Grand Inspectors General, in Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree,
duly and legally assembled, have hereunto subscribed our Names and affixed
the Grand Seal of our Illustrious Order, at the Date and Place aforesaid.

H. CLERK 33°
Grand Treasurer

SHADWELL H. CI.ERKE 33°
Grand Secretary-General

M. COSTA 33°

Grand Captain of Guards

HUGH D. SANDEMAN 33°
Sovereign Grand Inspector
General

ALEX WILLIAM ADAIR 33°
Sovereign Grand Inspector

General

CARNARVON 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander

CHAS. J NO. VIGNE 33°
Past Sovereign Grand
Commander

NATHL. GEO. PHILIPS 33°
Past Sovereign Grand Commander
& Lieut. Grand Commander

J. M. P. MONTAGU 33°
Grand Chancellor

ROBERT HAMILTON 33°
Grand Chaplain

-708—

Thomas Douglas Harington
First Sovereign Grand Commander, 1874

Thomas Douglas Harington was born in Windsor, England on June 7,
1808. His early life was spent in the Royal Novy and that of the East India
Company. Coming to Quebec in 1832, he entered the civil service as an extra
clerk, and because of his efficiency advanced rapidly, being promoted in 1858
to the position of Deputy Receiver General of the United Provinces of Upper
and Lower Canada, and in 1868 to the same office in the Dominion of Canada
retiring in 1878. In the stirring years of 1837-38 he served with the "Queen's
Rangers," and rose to the rank of Lieut. -Colonel of Militia.

Initiated in the Duke of Leinster Lodge No. 283 (Irish Reg.) Kingston
m 1843, he was Master of St. George's Lodge, Montreal, in 1845 He was
Provmcial Grand Master of the District Grand Lodge of Quebec and Three
Rivers in 1852; Lower Canada (English Const.) 1853; Canada Fast (Scot
Const.) Deputy Grand Master Grand Lodge of Canada 186(J, and had an'

—709—

equally distinguished record in Royal Arch Masonry, both in Quebec and in
Ontario, and in the Cryptic Rite as well. He likewise took an active interest
in Knight Templary and the Red Cross of Constantine, in association with his
friend Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore.

Upon the latter's recommendation Harington was created an Inspector
General 33° by the Supreme Council of England and Wales in July 14, 1868.
On Moore's recommendation also he was appointed Moore's successor as
Representative of the Rite in Canada, December 10, 1868.

In later years he received many honours in various branches of Masonry
in Canada and the United States.

He continued in office as Sovereign Grand Commander until his death
on January 13, 1882 in Prescott, Ontario, where he was laid to rest in the
"Blue Church Burying Ground" in nearby Augusta, his grave being marked
by a granite stone erected by the Grand Lodge of Canada in Ontario in 1939.

Of him Albert Pike said "He left to his Brethren the heritage of an
honored memory."

Supreme Council Organized

In accordance with his Patent, Bro. Thomas Douglas Harington sum-
moned a Convention of Members of the Ancient and Accepted Rite to meet
in the Lodge room of the Masonic Temple at Ottawa on October 16, 1874.

On this occasion there were present

Thomas Douglas Harington
Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore
John Walter Murton
Hugh A. MacKay
David Ransom Munro

Albert Pike, S.G.I.G.

D. B. Tracy, S.G.I.G.

33°

33° and

33° and as Visitors

33°, Sovereign Grand Commander of the
Supreme Council of the Southern Juris-
diction, U.S.A.

33° representing Josiah H. Drummond,
Sovereign Grand Commander of the
Supreme Council of the Northern Juris-
diction, U.S.A.

After a few introductory remarks, Bro. Harington read his Patent of
July 15, 1874 from the Supreme Council of England, Wales etc. authorizing
him to establish a Supreme Council for Canada.

He thereupon appointed Robert Marshall 33°, Saint John, N.B. as Lieut.
Grand Commander and they (by written assent of the latter who was not
present) appointed John W. Murton as the third member of the Council and
as Secretary-General.

Bro. Albert Pike then declared the Supreme Council to be duly and con-
stitutionally established by the title of "The Supreme Council of the 33° of
the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry for the Dominion of Canada"
and administered the oath of office to Bro. Harington as a S.G.I.G. and as
Sovereign Grand Commander.

—710—

The Supreme Council was opened in due form and Bros. Marshall and
Murton proclaimed Active members thereof and the latter took the oath of
office.

The next step was the appointment of additional Active members. This
was done in the manner laid down by the Constitutions of 1786.

Hugh A. MacKay, Treasurer General

David R. Munro, Master of Ceremonies

James K. Kerr, Standard Bearer

James Domville, Marshal General

Hugh'W. Chisholm, Captain of the Guard

The following additional members of the Supreme Council were then
nominated and elected to receive the 33°. 111. Bro. Pike conferring the degree
and elevating them to the rank of Sovereign Grand Inspector General ; John
Valentine Ellis, to represent the Consistory held in Saint John under warrant
from the Supreme Council of Scotland, in accordance with an agreement
between the Supreme Councils of England and Scotland, William Reid of
Hamilton to replace Thos. Bird Harris, deceased, William H. Hutton, of
Hamilton, Eugene Mortimer Copeland, of Montreal. Bro. Ellis was then duly
elected and installed as Chancellor and took the oath of office.

The following brethren were nominated for appointment as Representatives
of other Supreme Councils :

Col. Wm. J. B. McLeod Moore, England, Wales etc.
John W. Murton, Southern Jurisdiction, U.S.A.
Hugh A. MacKay, Northern Jurisdiction, U.S.A.

Bros. Albert Pike, (Southern Jurisdiction) Josiah H. Drummond (Nor-
thern Jurisdiction) and Dr. Robert Hamilton (England, Wales etc.) were
elected Honorary members of the new Council, and its Representatives near
their respective jurisdictions.

It was resolved that the number of active members be limited for the
present to twenty-one, including the officers, three to be nominated for the
Province of Nova Scotia.

A committee was appointed to draft a Constitution for consideration at
the next meeting.

All existing warrants granted to subordinate bodies by the Supreme
Councils of England and Scotland were confirmed pending the preparation of
Canadian warrants.

—711—

A design for a seal for the Council was submitted by the Sovereign
Grand Commander and adopted.

A warrant was granted for a Consistory 32° to be held at Montreal.

Votes of thanks were unanimously adopted to the Supreme Council of
England and Wales etc. for the Patent of Constitution of the Council bearing
the signature of 111. Bro. H.R.H. the Prince of Wales ; to 111. Bros. Pike
and Drummond, who were made Honorary members of the Council, "for
their kind and valuable assistance in its establishment" and to the Brethren
of Ottawa for the use of their lodge room for the occasion.

Such in brief is the record of the establishment of the Supreme Council
of Canada on October 16, 1874.

The membership of the new

Thomas Douglas Harington

Robert Marshall

Hugh Alexander MacKay

John Walter Murton

John Valentine Ellis

David Ransom Munro

James Domville

James Kirkpatrick Kerr

Hugh Williams Chisholm

Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore

William Reid

William Henry Hutton

Eugene Mortimer Copeland

Hon. Albert Pike

Josiah H. Drummond

Council set up in 1874 was as follows :-

Sovereign Grand Commander
Lieut. Grand Commander
Treasurer General
Secretary General
Grand Chancellor
Grand Master of Ceremonies
Grand Marshal General
Grand Standard Bearer
Grand Captain of the Guard

Sov. Grand Commander, Southern Juris-
diction, U.S.A.

Sov. Grand Commander, Northern Juris-
diction, U.S.A.

-712—

'*»*''?:&yf'*^^

..^iiit^

WmmW0 3y

'wPC!^f CooNC!!. /i it.*i 5,H ^H- rne DoMiKidi, .y l'/i?wD« flr Immmti'Omm. Our. Qcrcm fe »
First Supreme Council, 1874

Of the thirteen founders of the Supreme Council, John Walter Murton,
John \^alentine Ellis and William Henry Hutton later became Sovereign
Grand Commanders of the Council, and reference will later be made to them.

Constituent Bodies

At the time of the formation of the Supreme Council in 1874, the
subordinate bodies were

Consistories

Moore Sovereign Consistory, Hamilton

Disp. May 14, 1868 — organized July 10, 1868, 35 members.

Montreal Sovereign Consistory, Montreal
Disp. October 16, 1874

Harington Sovereign Consistory, Saint John, N.B., 20 members.
Disp. July 26, 1872, organized September 12, 1872.

—713—

Council

New Brunswick Council K.H. 30°, Saint John, 10 members.

Disp. (Scotland) May 8, 1871, constituted November 8, 1871.

Rose Croix Chapters

Hamilton Sovereign Chapter, Hamilton, 40 members.

Disp. May 14, 1868, organized July 10, 1868.
London Sovereign Chapter, London, 15 members.

Disp. May 14, 1868, organized July 10, 1868.
McLeod Moore Sovereign Chapter, Maitland, 15 members.
Toronto Sovereign Chapter, Toronto, 12 members.
Hochelaga Sovereign Chapter, Montreal, 16 members.
Moore Sovereign Chapter, Saint John, 35 members.

Disp. (Scotland) August 9, 1871, constituted Nov. 3, 1871.
New Brunswick Sovereign Chapter, Saint John, 23 members.
Keith Sovereign Chapter, Halifax

Warrant October 11, 1870.

Lodges of Perfection

Murton Lodge of Perfection, Hamilton.
A total of less than 200 members.

Sponsored by the great influence of Albert Pike and Josiah H. Drummond,
the new Council of Canada was almost immediately recognized by the Supreme
Councils of England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, France, Belgium,
Italy, and other jurisdictions, and Representatives exchanged.

V
The Period 1875-1900

The second annual session of the Supreme Council was held at Montreal
on October 13, 1875.

The Sovereign Grand Commander reported that the new Council had
been recognized by the Supreme Councils of England, Scotland, Ireland, both
the Northern and Southern Jurisdictions of the United States, France, Belgium,
Italy, Colon for the West Indies, Peru, San Domingo and Switzerland. The
returns showed 229 members. A full tableau of Representatives to and from
these Councils was submitted.

—714—

The draft of a new Constitution was submitted and discussed, the prin-
cipal features adopted being ;

1. That the present Sovereign Grand Commander should serve for life
but that his successor should be elected for a three year term.

2. The number of Active members to be limited to twenty-seven.

The Supreme Council to have its See at Montreal instead of Ottawa and
to meet there annually on the 2nd Wednesday of October.

At this Session, Bro. Isaac Henry Stearns 32° was nominated and elected
to receive the degree of S.G.I.G. and the degree conferred; and Bros. Benjamin
Lester Peters and Robert Thomson Clinch of Saint John and Hugh Murray of
Hamilton nominated to receive the degree and on their being elected, the Sov-
ereign Grand Commander was requested to call a special meeting at Saint John
in July 1876, to confer the degree on Bros. Peters and Clinch. Owing however
to the illness of the Sovereign Grand Commander, the prevailing economic
depression and the absence from Canada of two Active members, the degrees
were not conferred until the regular annual session in 1876.

Congress of Lausanne 1875

The Masonic event of international importance in 1875 was the Congress
of Lausanne in September 1875, Canada was not represented. Albert Pike's
health prevented him from being present. The three British Supreme Councils
were all represented.

This Congress adopted and proclaimed a Declaration of Principles which
has since been the cause of much criticism, even unto this present day. The
first paragraph of this Declaration affirmed that "Freemasonry proclaims, as
it has proclaimed from its origin, the existence of a Creative Principle under
the name of the Great Architect of the Universe."

To this statement the Supreme Council of Scotland demurred emphatically
as militating against the idea of a personal God, and with this protest, the
Supreme Councils of Ireland, Greece and the Northern and Southern Juris-
dictions of the United States concurred, with England agreeing with the
Congress, as did Belgium, Colon, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and
Switzerland.

The Canadian Supreme Council in its session in 1876, emphatically dis-
sented from the proposed definition, and denounced "any attempt to dethrone
the Great Creator, our Father in Heaven, to whom all our altars are erected
and all our prayers ascend, and substitute 'a thing' in His place." (1876 p. 31)

The Congress also attempted the revision of the Ancient Constitutions, and
other articles proposed for the government of all Councils which would accept
them.

One of these proposals was that "a Supreme Council founding a Lodge
or Chapter in any Country occupied by another Supreme Council shall be

—715—

entitled to jurisdiction over that country x x x until a national Supreme
Council shall be there established. To this proposal Scotland, Ireland and the
Southern Jurisdiction recorded their determined opposition. The full treaty
of alliance is to be found in our Proceedings (1876 p. 48).

The dissenting Supreme Councils immediately organized themselves into
another federation. Canada took the view that any such confederation would
be a power over all the Councils composing it and thereby lose or impair
Canada's independence and sovereignity. (1876 p. 79)

A meeting of the second confederation called the League of Supreme
Councils was summoned to meet at Edinburgh but the Supreme Council of
England issued a manifesto demanding that Scotland be stricken from the
list of recognized Councils (1877 p. 19) Canada thereupon adopted as its definite
policy not to join cither alliance or confederation and declined to take any
action against Scotland (p. 33, 36).

England withdrew from the Treaty of Alliance in 1880 (p. 10, 39). This
however was not the end of the matter for on several annual sessions since 1880
there have been echoes and discussions arising out of the Conference.

Maitland and George C. Longley

At the 3rd meeting of the Supreme Council held at Montreal, October
11, 1876, the principal discussion centered about the Masonic situation in the
village of Maitland, Ontario. In this village there were at this time twelve
Masonic bodies each with a few members and in most instances duplicating
the membership of other bodies, all of them unable to confer with appropriate
ceremonies and furnishings and regalia the degrees they were authorized to
confer : It was felt that it was absurd to maintain even one Scottish Rite body.
The leader in all this Masonic activity was one George C. Longley 32°, who
guided the fortunes of McLeod Moore Sovereign Chapter and its Lodge of
Perfection.

George Canning Longley was born in Maitland in 1827, and was possessed
of considerable means. In 1880 he was appointed collector of Inland Revenue
at Prescott and during the last five years of his life resided there.

His Masonic activities and interests were truly amazing particularly in St.
James Craft Lodge, and Maitland Royal Arch Chapter which he founded. He
was a close friend of Col. McLeod Moore and was active in Gondemar Pre-
ceptory. then at Maitland but now at Brockville, Ontario.

A widely read student of Freemasonry he possessed an insatiable desire
for degrees, both regular and clandestine. He gathered about him some twenty
associates and active workers.

In 1876, McLeod Moore Chapter Rose Croix, Maitland, with a member-
ship of 17, applied to the Supreme Council to permit its members to take their
higher degrees in tlie Consistory at Montreal instead of at Hamilton. This re-

-716—

quest was denied by the Supreme Council, as it would encourage a breach of
the Provincial jurisdiction.

-~~«f,r-'rs,'S~t:!ii

George Canning Longley

In 1877, the Sovereign Grand Commander reported that the two Maitland
bodies had surrendered their warrants, due it was alleged to the adverse action
of the Supreme Council.

At this same session, Bro. W. J. B. McLeod Moore made a valiant attempt
to divide the jurisdiction of the Ontario and Quebec consistories by a line
running north through the town of Brockville, so as to put Maitland within
the jurisdiction of the Montreal Consistory, but the Supreme Council voted
it down, and declared its policy to be strict adherence to Provincial boundaries.
(1877 p. 14-15)

The annual Proceedings of the Scottish Rite give a somewhat incomplete
picture of the revolt that was undoubtedly inspired by Longley, and directed
from the village of Maitland. From copies of the circulars issued by Longley
and his associates we learn that this village claimed to be the Grand East of
no less than 30 Grand Masonic Rites, conferring 282 degrees. The "Masonic
Register" of Maitland dated 1876 offered 61 degrees (including the Craft and

—717-

Capitular degrees and the A. & A. Scottish Rite for a total fee of $144.00 with
total annual dues amounting to $6.50 ! !

Today in the Lodge room of St. James Lodge, now at South Augusta
will be seen the original warrants, patents, diplomas and charters of most of
the numerous bodies sponsored by Longley.

At the next annual session of the Supreme Council in October 1878 one
of the subjects under discussion was the appearance at Maitland, Ontario of
the Rites of "Mizraim" and "Memphis" and a third known as the Ancient
and Primitive Rite. The propagation of these spurious Rites was the work of
Longley and was viewed by the Supreme Council as an act of defiance.

The Sovereign Grand Commander was outspoken in denunciation of
"these mischievous Rites."

Efforts were made to establish Chapters of Rose Croix under the Ancient
and Primitive Rite, in Toronto and elsewhere in Ontario, invitations being
broadcast to the members of the Scottish Rite to visit their meetings. A strongly
worded warning was immediately sent by the Sovereign Grand Commander
to all bodies of the Scottish Rite, which had the desired effect at least for a
while (p. 49).

The propagators of these spurious Rites even questioned the legitimacy
of the Supreme Council of Canada itself and appealed to Albert Pike for his
opinion on this important question. Pike who had himself assisted in instituting
the Council replied to the malcontents in a lucid and convincing statement which
was presented to the annual meeting in 1879 (p. 21, 47) but as we shall see,
this did not end the attacks from without but it did quiet doubt from within.

The Supreme Council declared these Rites to be "a direct menace to the
A. & A. S. Rite" and their introduction by members of our Rite as "a palpable
violation of their fealty of allegiance to this Supreme Council, as these systems
pretend to confer many of the degrees of this Rite and consequently are rival
in their nature" and the propagation of these Rites was calculated to have a
pernicious effect, and subjected the author to suspension or expulsion (p. 30-32).

In some incomprehensible way the new Rite obtained the support of
leaders in the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of "Canada" and even of
several outstanding members of the Scottish Rite, and on October 12, 1881, a
Sovereign Sanctuary for Canada was organized at London, claiming juris-
diction over eleven Rites or Systems, as well as various side degrees.

Chapters and Sanctuaries of the Ancient and Primitive Rite sprang up
everywhere and enlisted the support of many active Masonic leaders. The new
Rite was represented by Rose Croix Chapters and other bodies from Windsor
to Moncton, N.B. including Hamilton, Toronto, London, Ottawa, Orillia,
Brockville, Belleville, Peterboro and Montreal, even to Australia. Among its
most ardent supporters were Dr. Robert Ramsay of Orillia, Dr. Oronhyatekha

—718—

of London, Daniel Rose of Toronto, J. B. Trayes, publisher of the Craftsman,
at Port Hope, E. B. Butterworth of Ottawa, E. H. D. Hall, Peterborough,
R. J. Hovenden, Toronto and James Seymour, P.G.M. of St. Catherines,
Ontario.

The published proceedings of this order from 1881 to 1885 give to the
reader the impression that in that period it would sweep every other Masonic
body in the world into its jurisdiction, but one also gets the impression that
much of the claims made on its behalf were but "window dressing" and without
substance, a house of cards.

Cerneau Rite

Among the irregular Rites promoted by Longley and his associates was a
rival Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite, which appeared on the Canadian
scene in 1880. This spurious body was organized in October 1880 at New York
and claimed jurisdiction over the whole of the United States and Canada
alleging itself to be the successor of a Supreme Council formed by Joseph
Cerneau in 1807 which however had merged with the Northern Supreme Council
in 1868.

In November 1880, several brethren in Toronto were invited to join the
invading body but the warnings sent out by the Sovereign Grand Commander
threatening the immediate expulsion of any member who would join the new
body had the desired effect in most quarters.

Longley, however, accepted office as Sovereign Grand Commander with
John Dumhrille of Maitland as Lieut. Grand Commander and R. J. Hovenden
of Toronto, as Secretary General of the Cerneau Rite of the Supreme Council
for British North America, formed on June 17, 1882, and issued a warrant
for Bay of Quinte Consistory at Belleville. They even sought recognition of the
regular Supreme Council, a request which was promptly denied by the Acting
Sovereign Grand Commander, Wm. H. Hutton who denounced the new body
as clandestine.

Following this, a formal charge was laid against the three offenders, who
were summoned to answer the charges before a Sovereign Tribunal 31° at
Hamilton. On being found guilty, they were forthwith suspended, and later
expelled by the Supreme Council at its meeting in October 1882 (p. 17-21, 52).

About the same time, five members of this bogus body were expelled by
the Supreme Council of the Northern Jurisdiction meeting in Boston in
September 1882.

This clandestine body continued its evil work for some years longer,
for we find it recorded in the report of the Deputy for P.E. Island and New-
foundland in 1886, that he had learned that "a member of the spurious rite
(which you will observe calls itself the Supreme Council of 33° for the
Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland) x x x had asserted that our body
had no control beyond the Provinces of the Dominion, and as I understand.

—719—

worked up in Newfoundland, (then not a Province of Canada) an anti-
confederate feeling against Canada per se most inimical to our interests" (1886
p. 21-22).

The release in 1886 of jurisdiction by the Supreme Council of England
over Newfoundland to some extent improved the situation.

On February 2v3rd, 1885, the meteoric career of Longley ended with his
death at Prescott, after a long and lingering illness and with his passing dis-
appeared almost overnight the many Orders and Rites which he had spon-
sored and propagated and peace reigned within the realm of the Scottish Rite
in Canada.

A few trinkets, collarettes and decorations remain in Masonic museums to
recall the transitory existance of the numerous bogus Rites and monstrosities
of the Longley group.

Extension of The Rite

Beginning in 1878 we see the inception of the movement to separate
Lodges of Perfection from the Rose Croix Chapters, Montreal, Toronto and
Saint John being instances reported or prospective.

The members of the Council were urged to make a vigorous effort to
establish Lodges of Perfection wherever there was a reasonable prospect of
maintaining the ground occupied and the importance was stressed on all
occasions of selecting for membership those who had, by their activity and
interest in Craft Masonry, demonstrated their zeal and leadership.

New Brunswick

In 1876 the Council approved the merger of the New Brunswick and
Aloore Chapters of Rose Croix under the name of the Harington Chapter
and the amalgamation of the New Brunswick Council of K-H, 30° (formerly
under Scotland) with the Harington Consistory under the name of the New
Brunswick Sovereign Consistory, new warrants being issued to the new bodies.

In the following year, a disastrous fire which ravaged the major portion
of Saint John City, on June 20, 1877, completely destroyed the massive stone
building on Princess Street, the home of the Masonic bodies, together with all
warrants, records and equipment, all without insurance. A new building was
later erected on Germain Street, new warrants for the two Scottish Rite bodies
were renewed and with characteristic zeal and energy they went to work to
recover the lost ground.

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

At the Council Meeting held October 11, 1876, the recommendation of
Bro. Robert Marshall that special deputies should be appointed for Nova
Scotia, was given token effect by appointing Bros. B. L. Peters and Robert

—720—

T. Clinch (both of Saint John, N.B.) as Deputies for Nova Scotia and Prince
Edward Island, there being no 33rds from either Province.

In the latter province there were no Scottish Rite Masons whatever and
in Nova Scotia, Keith Chapter Rose Croix in Halifax was in a state of
stagnation, and unrepresented in the Supreme Council, a situation which was
the subject of some comment in the Valley of Halifax, which had expected
early appointments in accordance with the terms upon which that Valley had
agreed to unite with the Supreme Council in 1874.

In 1880, the situation in Nova Scotia was still at low ebb, with only twenty
members, Bros. Marshall and Clinch continued as Deputies for these two
Provinces until 1883, without however, making any visits to the Valley of
Halifax, and the situation deteriorated still further.

In 1883, Marshall again urged the appointment of a special Deputy and in
1884, George T. Smithers 2)2° was named to promote the Rite in Prince Edward
Island and Rev. Dr. Francis Partridge 32° for Nova Scotia. These two leaders
urged the establishment of a Consistory in Halifax, and a warrant was issued
forthwith.

From this point the situation greatly improved, Smithers and Partridge
were made Actives in 1885 at a special session held at Saint John. These
appointments gave new impetus to the infant Consistory and stagnant Chapter
and saved both from extinction. In the same year the Sovereign Grand Com-
mander W. H. Hutton paid a visit to Halifax, which gave further encourage-
ment, which led to further plans for the extension of the Rite in the two
Provinces. Victoria Lodge of Perfection (named in honour of Queen Victoria
whose Jubilee occurred in that year) was set up independently of Keith
Sovereign Chapter Rose Croix and Lodges of Perfection were also formed at
Kentville and Amherst in 1889 and 1890, which however failed to survive more
than a few years. In spite of efforts it was not until 1895 that the Rite was
introduced into Prince Edward Island largely through the efforti of ihe Saint
John brethren.

The Western Provinces

The entry of the Rite into Manitoba was initiated in 1879, by the presen-
tation of a petition by brethren in Winnipeg for the formation of a Lodge of
Perfection (1879 p. 24) and such Lodge and a Chapter Rose Croix were
established and in 1880, (1880 p. 7-9, 13, 15-18) warrants for similar bodies in
Victoria, B.C. were also authorized and issued.

In the earliest days of the Rite, numerous bodies were organized under
the enthusiasm and zeal of a few, particularly in the smaller towns, and even
villages, of Canada, but in many such cases the inevitable fate of those who
take up a burden which they cannot bear overtook them and they had to
surrender their warrants. It was always evident that only persistent effort of
the many was necessary to provide the energy to maintain the momentum and
permanency of the Rite.

—721—

In the first quarter of a century (1875-1900), more than a dozen such bodies
were established, which within that period or shortly afterward were obliged
to surrender their warrants.

The Supreme Council

During the same period the Supreme Council itself had its difficulties, but
in spite of them, it made steady and substantial progress.

In 1887 the number of Active members was increased from 21 to 27,
and again in 1897, to 30.

In 1881, the proposal was made to create Honorary members but the
proposal was negatived. It passed however the following year, with the limi-
tation that there should be one Honorary for every fifty 18° Masons in each
Province. The first Honorary members were created in that year when three
brethren from Manitoba were honored with that rank. Very frequently during
the next fifteen years, both the Honorary and Active 33rd degrees were con-
ferred on a new member of the Council.

The poor attendance of Active members at annual sessions led to the
adoption of a new statute in 1878, providing for the forfeiture of the seat
and membership of any member of the Council "whose absence shall extend
to three consecutive annual sessions" unless the Supreme Council may see fit
to suspend the declaration (1878 p. 27-28).

This however did not accomplish the desired result and in 1884, a further
statute was adopted providing for Past Active members to which class the
Council could transfer non-attending members, and such action was taken
in respect of two Active members in 1887.

The attendance of members of the Council at annual meetings during the
early years of its history cannot be said to have been notable. As an example,
in 1893, only eight officers and four other Actives were in attendance while
the absentees were 10 Actives and three Past Actives.

In 1894, there were present eight officers, six Actives and 11 Hojioraries.

In 1898, the total attendance was only 25 of all ranks.

Executive Sessions

In 1884, the holding of Executive sessions of the Council was authorized
confined to Active and Past Active members only, for the transaction of confi-
dential matters (p. 5-6).

Annual Meetings

Annual meetings were held in Montreal in October of each year from
1875 to 1889 excepting in 1885 when the meeting was cancelled owing to the
possible risk of contagion due to an epidemic of small-pox in that city. In
April of that year, however, a special session was held at Saint John, N.B. to
confer the 33° upon several brethren nominated in 1884.

—722—

William Henry Hutton 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander 1S82-S6

William H. Hutton proved a worthy successor to Thos D. Harington,
seldom missing a meeting of the Council, genial and courteous, he exerted
a tremendous influence on its affairs. Bro. Hutton was initiated in St. Paul's
Lodge (Eng. Cons.) Montreal and exalted as a R. A. Masoiv in the
Chapter attached to that Lodge. He was identified with the Rite in Montreal
from its establishment in 1873, and created a Sovereign Grand Inspector-
General at the formation of the Supreme Council in 1874, and rose by emitient
ebility to the office of Sovereign Grand Commar.dcr. which he served with
great assiduity from January 13, 1882 to October 21, 1886. After a long
and painful illness he passed away on October 9, 1893.

—723—

Hon. John V. Ellis
Sovereign Grand Commander 1886-92

—llA—

Hon. John Valentine Ellis was born in Halifax of Irish parentage, on
February 14, 1835. After an education in the pubHe schools, he entered the
newspaper business with the St. John Globe in 1862, remaining with it as
l)rinter, reporter, editor and projjrietor. He was prominent in every progressive
movement in the community, identifying himself with several charitable and
benevolent organizations. In public life he served successively in the Provincial
Legislature 1882-90, the House of Commons and the Senate of Canada
(1900-13) ar.d was distinguished for his clearness of intellect, independence
of views and unfaltering adherence to his convictions.

Initiated in The Lodge of Social and Military Virtues, Montreal (now
tile Lodge of Antiquity No. 1) in 1856 he subsequently served in no le.;s than
six Grand Easts; as Grand Master of New Brunswick (1872-74, 1884-86),
as Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of New Brunswick (1894-98) as
M. P. Grand Master of the Cryptic Grand Council (1892-94) as M. Em.
Supreme Grand Master of the Knight Templar Order in Canada (1899-1900),
as Provincial Grand Master of the Royal Order of Scotland (1895-1913) and
and as Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite (1886-92) as well as
numerous lesser honours and distinctions.

He died July 10, 1913, a man distinguished for his devotion to duty, his
l)rofound knowledge of Masonry, his sterling character, his broad culture.
(Proc. 1913 p. 63).

Following the adoption of a new Constitution in 1887, permitting the
annual sessions to be held outside Montreal, the annual session in 1890 was
held at Hamilton, when the members of the Council had the opportunity of
witnessing an exemplification of the degrees conferred by the Hamilton bodies,
and at th.e close of the session the Rite in Hamilton entertained the members
of the Council at a banquet at which the Grand Master of Masons in Ontario
M.W. Bro. J. Ross Robertson and M. Ex. Comp. John James Mason, Grand Z
were honored guests.

Election of Officers

Election of officers were held tricnnially always in Montreal. T. Douglas
Harington who was elected Sovereign Grand Commander in 1874. died on
January 13, 1882. Our first Sovereign Grand Commander was ardently devoted
to Masonry in all its branches and profoundly versed in Masonic knowledge.
After paying due tribute to his great (|ualities of heart and mind, the Council
in October 1882, elected Wm. H. Hutton as his successor and John Valentine
Ellis as Lieut. Grand Commander. Wm. H. Hutton continued in office until
October 1886 when he was succeeded by John V. Ellis.

At the session of 1887 a handsome P. Sov. Grand Commander's jewel
accompanied by an illuminated address bound in Morocco, was presented to
Wm. H. Hutton in appreciation of his eminent services from 1882-86 and as
evidence of the esteem and fraternal regard in which he was held.

Another presentation made at the same session was to John Walter Murton
for his services as Secy-Gen'l from the formation of the Council in 1874 until
his retirement from the office in 1886. As a token of their esteem and approval
of his services the Council presented a handsome clock and an address beautifully
illifminated.

—725—

John Walter Murton 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander 1892-98

John Walter Murton was born in Hamilton, Ontario in July 1836, and
all his life was actively identified with civic and educational interests in that
City. He served on the School Board, City Council, License Commission, as
Secretary of the Royal Humane Society and as Sheriff of the County.

His long Masonic career began with his initiation in 1857. He served as
Master of the Lodge from 1862-64 and later as Senior Grand Warden of his
Grand Lodge. He was also active in his Royal Arch Chapter and in
Knight Templary. (Provincial Prior 1871) and in the Royal Order of
Scotland. He received his .Scottish Rite degrees in Louisville (Kentuclo/)
Consistory, in 1863, and was one of the founders of Murton Lodge of Perfec-
tion, Hamilton Chapter and Moore Consistory in 1868, and was made an
Honorary 33rd in the same year.

He became an Active Member cf the Supreme Council in 1874, and was
Secretary-General from 1874 to 1885, Lieut. Grand Commander from 1886-92,
and Sovereign Grand Commander from Oclober 27, 1892 until his death on
October 23, 1898. (1899 p. 128. 172).

He was greatly interested in Masonic studies, ritual, traditions and history.
"It may be truly said of Bro. Murton that he took up the work of construction
where Bro. Harington laid it down. He did things and today we are practising
methods of procedure that he inaugurated" as Secretary-General and Sovereign
Grand Cc:r.!nander.

—726—

Isaac Henry Stearns 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander 1898-1904

Isaac Henry Stearns the fifth Sovereign Grand Commander, had a long
and distinguished career. Born in New Hampshire in 1837, he came at an early
age to Montreal, where he entered the employ of his uncle. His public
activities included several terms as an Alderman in the City Council and long
years of devoted service with several philanthropic institutions.

Initiated in Montreal Kilwinning Lodge, now No. 20 G.R.Q., in 1860
he was active in Masonry until his death 61 years later, serving as Grand
'i'rcasurcr of the Grand Lodge 1878-1920, excepting in 1889-9 when he served
as (irand Master; Grand Z Grand Chapter of Quebec 1880; Past Supreme
(irand Master (Hon.) Knights Templar of Canada and high offices in other
branches of Masonry.

He received the 4° to Z2° in the Valley of Nashua N.H. in 1869 and was
a charter member of all the Montreal bodies in 1873. He received his 33°
in 1875. He served as Sovereign Grand Commander from 1898 to 1904.

.\ gentleman of the old school, sound in judgment, cautious in speak-
ing, a wise counsellor, firm in upholding the best traditicjns. He died
February 15, 1921.

—727-

John V. Ellis served until October 1892, when high tribute was paid to his
leadership and service as Sovereign Grand Commander (1892 p. Zl , 40, 41).

His successor was John Walter Murton. He served two terms of three
years each, passing away a few days before the annual meeting in Montreal
in October 1898, when Isaac H. Stearns, Lieut. Grand Commander was elected
to succeed him. Bro. Stearns also served two terms in the office 1898 to 1904.

The Statutes

The Constitution was revised at the 1887 session incorporating changes
made in the previous thirteen years. The jurisdiction was declared to include
Newfoundland although not then part of the Dominion of Canada.

Other changes may be summarized.

(a) The number of Honorary 33°'s was changed to one for every fifty 14°
Masons in each Province instead of 18° Alasons.

(b) The annual meeting was changed to the fourth Wednesday, instead of
the third Wednesday in October.

(d) Minimum fees and time intervals were revised.

(e) The annual meeting was changed from Montreal "to such place as the
Council shall determine."

In the same constitution was included a statute defining the duties of
Provincial and Special Deputies, first adopted in 1883.

Relations With Other Supreme Councils

This topic has always received annual attention and one is able by a perusal
of the yearly proceedings to follow the history of all other Supreme Councils,
regular and irregular; the passing of Masonic leaders; new projects; division
and extension of jurisdiction; changes in their declaration of principals and the
exchange of representatives. These and other subjects have been constantly
under review.

As early as 1878, an important declaration was made of non-intercourse
with the Grand Orient of France "so long as she persists in a declaration of
principles withdrawing from her enunciation of belief in the Existence of
Almighty God and the immortality of the Soul." (1878 p. 35)

In 1893, a problem arose in respect of English-made members of the
Rose Croix resident in Canada. A number of such brethren 18° resident in
Halifax while serving in the British military and naval forces stationed there
applied to the Consistory there for the higher degrees. There was no regu-
lation or understanding forbidding them from affiliating with the Rose Croix
Chapter in Halifax and having done so, applying to the Consistory for its
degrees.

—728—

The English Supreme Council however had a rule of its own forbidding
its members receiving any further degrees outside of its jurisdiction without
its sanction. After considerable correspondence, the Sov. Grand Commander
issued an edict that in all such cases in future the consent of the English
Supreme Council should first be obtained. The withdrawal of British forces
from Canada in 1905-10 ended the difficulty.

Ritual

When the Supreme Council was formed in 1874, it was resolved that
pending the adoption of a Constitution the method of conferring degrees
should be in accondance with the rules of the Supreme Council of England,
(p. 9)

At the next meeting (1875) the Committee on Ritual reported that "they
had arranged the work of the degrees of the Lodge of Perfection and now
submitted the same for adoption." Later in the session the work for the 4°
to the 14° was examined and adopted.

At the next meeting in 1876 the Committee recommended that the 15°,
and 17° of the Southern Jurisdiction (with certain emendations) be the
authorized work in Canada and that the English 18° be the basis for a new
Canadian ritual. This revised ritual was exemplified in extenso and unani-
mously adopted (1876 p. 29, 30, 33). The 30° was exemplified before the
Council in 1877 (p. 21, 31) and the 31° and 32° in 1878 (p. 28) and adopted
and again in 1883 (p. 25) as the standard work for all Consistories.

In 1879 the Committee consisting of John W. Murton, and Wm. H. Hutton
reported that they had completed their revision of the ceremonies for the
installation of officers, dedications of halls, the holding of funerals and of
Lodges of Sorrow.

This first revision of our ritual was based in large measure on the work
of Albert Pike, to whom the committee expressed their indebtedness for his
advice in adapting the ceremonies to suit the Canadian system.

In 1884 a committee was also appointed to consider the ceremony of the
33° and to exemplify same at the next session. This same committee also
undertook the revision of the ceremonies for Maundy Thursday and Easter Day.

Working rituals for all these ceremonies were printed in 1886, and circu-
lated to the various Lodges, Chapters and Consistories.

A Committee was named in 1886 to consider further revision and in 1888,
it recommended a few changes in the 4° - 18°. These changes were exemplified
and approved. Further revisions of the Chapter ceremonies were made in
the next few years and completed in 1893.

Brussells Conference 1887

In this connection the Rose Croix Chapters in the Valley of Brussells in
1886 called a conference of Rose Croix Masons for March 1887 to which

—729—

they invited all Supreme Councils to send delegates. Reading the reports of this
conference it would seem that this conference must have been of tremendous
interest to those who attended. The ablest scholars and historians of Scottish
Rite Freemasonry in the world not only collected a vast number of the histories
and rituals of the degree but presented to the conference valuable papers
dealing with the teachings of the numerous versions of the degree.

The Supreme Council of Canada pledged its assistance but unfortunately
no Canadian members were able to attend, but the Sov. Grand Commander
John V. Ellis contributed a paper on the desirability of uniformity.

Innovations in Ritual

In 1892 it was reported that Keith Chapter in Nova Scotia had introduced
certain novelties into the ceremonies of Easter Day by inviting "prominent
Masons, who were not members of the Rite to be present and partake in the
Mystic Banquet, the ceremonies, signs, etc. being adapted to suit the occasion."
At the time this report was passed unnoticed.

In his allocution the following year, the Sov. Grand Commander directed
the Council's attention to what he termed as "new ceremonies" and irregular.
The Deputy for Nova Scotia (Edward L. Foster) urged that the Chapter
be allowed to continue the service as practised, "as it had become an event
eagerly looked forward to by every member of the Rite and their friends,
and certainly productive of good to the Rite and tending to a higher tone for
Masonry in Halifax."

The Special Committee to which the question was referred ruled that it
is not permissable for any subordinate body of the Rite to introduce any change
in ritual or any alteration of ceremonial observances, "the Supreme Council
alone being competent to take the initiative in any such matters."

They recommended, however, that Keith Chapter be permitted to carry
out the observance for one year to permit the Supreme Council further time
for consideration of the request.

In 1894, the Committee on Ritual reported that the admission of non-
members of the Rite to the Easter ceremonies was "especially objectionable"
even though "nothing in the nature of secret work is displayed."

Reunions

For the origin of annual reunions in the various \'^alleys we must go
back to 1879 when we learn that "the Rite in Hamilton intends to hold annual
reunions to confer al Ithe degrees from the 4° to the 32° and asks the consent
of the Supreme Council (1880, p. 11-14). The request met with warm approval
and the first such reunion was held in the spring of 1881, and they have con-
tinued since that time.

In 1893. we note that annual reunions in Toronto, Ottawa (since 1890)
and Winnipeg were the rule. London had its first reunion in 1895 and since

—730—

that time the great majority of Valleys of the Rite have held such reunions
each year, the work being of high quality.

Other Projects

As early as 1881, the establishment of a Library was proposed and a
Committee appointed to report on location, shelving, maintenance and manage-
ment (1881 p. 13, 48).

Fifteen years later we find a report listing 60 bound books on Freemasonry,
along with fairly complete files of the Proceedings of many Grand Lodges,
Grand Chapters, etc. Also many gifts from the Northern and Southern Juris-
dictions and from individuals such as Albert Pike.

In 1901, the Library Committee reported the purchase of 13 volumes of the
Quatuor Coronati Lodge transactions, also, the purchase of the Masonic
library of the late Sovereign Grand Commander John W. Murton.

During the next twenty-five years however, we hear little or nothing
about the library, but probably it continued to receive accessions from time
to time.

Twenty-Five Years Progress

In 1899, the situation throughout Canada stood as follows :

L/P Members R.C.C. Cons.

British Columbia 1 42 1 1

Manitoba 1 210 1 1

New Brunswick 1 70 1 1

Nova Scotia 1 85 1 1

Ontario 7 1133 6 1

Prince Edward Island 1 45 1 —

Quebec 2 130 2 1

14 1715 13 6

as compared with

1 Lodge of Perfection ; 8 Chapters Rose Croix ; 1 Council of Kadosh, and
3 Consistories ; with a total membership of less than 200 in the Lodges
of Perfection in 1874. Of these 13 bodies four had disappeared in the next
twenty-five years by merger or surrender of their warrants.

Reviewing the first twenty-five years of progress Isaac H. Stearns,
Sovereign Grand Commander in 1899 had this to say : — "This year is the twenty-
fifth anniversary of the foundation of our Supreme Council, which was estab-
lished at Ottawa on the 16th October, 1874, and this becomes our quarter
century session. It is an epoch in our history which encourages to retro-

1 • T • 1 • *

spection and ccmpanson. It is now ov:r thirty years since the Rite was in-
troduced into the Dominion of Canada.

—731—

"Our Supreme Council has proved a marked success, and has been recog-
nized by every legitimate Council in the world ; mark the progress which has
been made in the last quarter of a century that has elapsed since the fathers
of the Rite assembled at Ottawa to establish this body. At that date we had
thirteen bodies in the whole Dominion, with a membership of 336. There has
been no large increase in the number of subordinate bodies of the Rite, for the
policy of our Council has ever been conservative, and it has always endeavored
to consolidate weak bodies when practicable, and establish new ones only
when and where the interests of the Rite required it. Notwithstanding this,
we have now 31 active bodies, with a membership of about 3,000 (in all bodies
combined).

"The progress of the Rite has not been limited to an increase of members
only; provision has been made in nearly all of the Provinces in the jurisdiction
for the meetings of the bodies, suitable buildings have been acquired or con-
structed, sometimes in connection with other Masonic organizations, and
sometimes by Scottish Rite Masons alone, exclusively for Scottish Rite uses,
and the rooms and buildings thus prepared, have been arranged, furnished and
equipped with everything necessary for the complete and convenient conferring
of the degrees of the Rite.

"The membership of many of our bodies is large and select, and in some
of the provinces rapidly increasing. Many of the presiding officers are eminent
and able craftsmen.

"The finances of the Supreme Council are in a sound and satisfactory
condition.

"Recognizing this advance in the condition of the Rite and its present
strength and prosperity, and the causes to which it is due, let us not in our
felicitations proper to the occasion, forget those distinguished and zealous
brethren, who, twenty-five years ago, laboured so faithfully and successfully
in establishing this Supreme Council."

The Period 1900-1925

Leaders

During the next twenty-five years, five brethren served as Sovereign
Grand Commander;

Isaac Henry Stearns 1898 to 1904

Hon. John Morison Gibson 1904 to 1913

Benjamin Allen 1913 to 1919

John Alexander Cameron 1919 to 1922

Sir John M. Gibson 1922 to 1923

John Alexander Cameron 1923 to 1925

—732—

Sir John Morrison Gibson
Sovereign Grand Commander 1904-13 - 1922-23

Sir John Morison Gibson, K.C.M.G. was born January 1, 1842 in Peel
County. Following his early education, in the Schools of Hamilton, he entered
the University of Toronto, graduating with many honours in 1863. He was
admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1869, and the degree of LL.B with Gold
Medal. He never lost touch with the halls of learning, serving as a valued
member jf the Board of Education in Hamilton and of the Senate of his
Alma Mater.

—733—

He was one of the first to join the University Rifles in 1860, and in 1863
enrolled with the Thirteenth Royal Ref?;iment, serving from private to Com-
manding Officer. In 1918 he was promoted Brigadier General and later a
Major General.

He was busy in the industrial life of Ontario, and \vas a pioneer in the long
distance transmission of electric power.

Elected to the Provincial Legislature in 1879, he served for twenty-six
years, serving successively ii: three Cabinet posts, and then for six years as
Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, climaxed by being created a Knight Com-
mander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He excelled as a lawyer,
as a legislator, as a rifleman, as a financier, as a capitalist, as a man of
affairs and as a Mason.

Masonry to him was more than a mere vocation. He was untiring in its
service, and a frequent and welcome visitor on all Masonic occasions. He
served for two years as Grand Master of Masons in Ontario and three terms
of three years each as Sovereign Grand Commander, 1904-13, and when an
octogenarian he filled that office for another year during the ill-health of Bro.
J. Alex. Cameron.

"His high capacity for leadership, his soundness of judgment, his breadth of
outlook combined to make him him a great man and a great Mason. He died
June 3, 1929. By his wonderful personality and high position he reflected a
lustre on our Order that will never dim."

In 1914, in appreciation of his services, a presentation of silver plate
accompanied by an address was made to Sir John Morison Gibson, on his
retirement from the office of Sovereign Grand Commander (1914 p. 23).

Throughout this period two brethren held the office of Secretary General,
Hugh Murray 1886 to 1904, a period of eighteen years. William H. Ballard
succeeded him in 1904, continuing in office until 1934.

William Henry Ballard Dr. Wm. H. Ballard was born in 1845 at Green-
wood, Ontario. After attaining high honours in college and university and in
the teaching profession, he was made Inspector of Public Schools in Hamilton
in 1885, serving until 1925.

He was active in all branches of Masonry, becoming an Active Member
of the Supreme Council in 1895 and Secretary-General in 1904, a position he
served for 30 years with great devotion and efficiency.

Hugh A. MacKay, who had been Treasurer General from the formation
of the Council in 1874 continued to serve until 1913, a period of 39 years, when
he was succeeded by Elias T. Malone who continued until 1933.

Hugh A. MacKay for thirty-nine years Treasurer-General, was born in
Glasgow, Scotland, April 6, 1840. Coming to Hamilton as a youth, he later
established a large wholesale drygoods business in Hamilton and later in
Berlin, now Kitciiener.

His Masonic Record was a notable one, holding many offices and enjoy-
ing many well-earned honours. He was sixty-years a member of the Rite,
and declined election as its head on account of advancing years. He died
December 29th, 1928, aged 90 years, the oldest 33rd in the world.

Rugged in honesty, outspoken but charitable in judgment, he was an
outstanding representative of the Rite.

—734—

Benjamin Allen 33°
Sovereign Grand Commander 1913-19

Benjamin Allen was born in County Armagh, Ireland, on Devember 3rd,
1854, and at an early age was apprenticed to the linen trade. In 1872 he
went to Toronto and continued in business there for 42 vears, retiring in
1914.

Initiated in Ashlar Lodge, Toronto, November 27, 1883, he became
Grand Master in 1904, and was active in all branches of the Craft. He re-
ceived the degrees of the Rite in 1889-90 and presided over the Toronto bodies
in 1892 and 1895, becoming an Honorary 33° in 1894 and an Active in 1896,
serving as Sovereign Grand Commander from 1913 to 1919. He held many
Masonic offices and received many honours.

His was a strong personality, which made him conspicuously popular
wherever he went throughout Canada. He died April 10. 1920. after indifferent
health for a considerable period.

—735—

John Alex. Cameron
Sovereign Grand Commander 1919-22, 1923-25

Tohn Alexander Cameron was born in Huntingdon Que., April 22 1870
educated in he Huntingdon Academy and at McGill University. He graduated
in \rts in 890 and in law in 1893. He practised as a Notary Public rom
graduation until his death in 1931. He was active in Craft Masonry from
f894 and served as Grand Master 1909-10 and Grand First Principal Z
9P-13 He entered the Rite in 1897 and presided successively over the three
Montreal bodies between 1904 and 1914. Becoming a member of the Supreme
ScTin 1909 he was elected Sovereign Grand Commander in 19 9 and
Sved five year's when ill health obliged him to retire. He again served from

^^'^1 pleasing feature of the installation of Bro. Cameron in 1919 was the
presentation to him of the Grand Decoration worn by T. Douglas Haring
ton and later by Isaac Henry Stearns. . ^ , ,

He was especially active in the Royal Order of Scotland serving as
Provh'ciaT Grand Mas'ter from 1909-31. He commanded the compete respec
and confidence of all who knew him. His sense of justice and honour, his
maturrjudgment his courtesy, his integrity, his devotion and service to his
Church, will be long remembered. _

"He was an ideal ruler, possessing a keen sensitive and artistic nature ;
an accomplished linguist ; a classical scholar and a cultured gentleman.

—736—

Hugh Murray
Secretary-General, 1886-1904

Hugh Murray was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1843 and came to Hamil-
ton in 1860. Initiated in Acacia Lodge No. 61 in 1868, he served as Master,
First Principal and Presiding Preceptor of the several Hamilton bodies
and as presiding officer of the three Scottish Rite bodies and the Royal Order
of Scotland. He was Grand Master of Masons in 1884-85, and Grand Secre-
tary of the Grand Lodge 1903-03. In the Rite he became Secretary-General
in 1886, serving eighteen years. He died November 28, 1907.

He was identified with education, civic and religious activities. A man
of great force of character, but withal calm, and considerate in judgment.

-737-

In this period the custom was firmly established of annual intervisitations
between the two Masonic Jurisdictions of the U.S.A. and the Canadian Supreme
Council. The outstanding Masonic leaders of the Northern Jurisdiction who
visited Canada from time to time were William Homan, Henry L. Palmer,
Charles T. Gallagher, James I. Buchanan, Leon Abbott and Barton Smith ; and
from the Southern jurisdiction such distinguished leaders as the Hon. James
D. Richardson, Samuel C. Lawrence, John Carson Smith and George O.
Tyler, all Sovereign Grand Commanders.

Our leaders invariably made return visits and helped to promote the
splendid fellowship which has always distinquished our relations with these
jurisdictions.

Constitution

In 1917 the Sovereign Grand Commander recommended a thorough re-
vision of the Constitution and the assimilation of rulings made from time to
time since the last revision thirty years previously. In this the Supreme Council
concurred (1917 p. 12, 73, 77) and appointed a strong Committee.

This Committee presented a very comprehensive report at the session of
1919, mostly concerned with minor changes in the wording of the statutes. A
proposal to meet on the 4th Wednesday of September instead of the 4th
Wednesday in October was negatived ; also a proposal to restrict the number
of Honorary 33 °s to one for every 100 14ths instead of one for every fifty of
that degree.

In 1923, the date of the annual session was changed to the first W^ednesday
of October instead of the fourth Wednesday.

The attendance of Actives at the annual meetings was not always as its
responsibility demanded. In 1911, only 16 were present with 13 absentees, with
only 14 Honorary members. The place of meeting (Winnipeg) and its distance
in those days from Eastern Canada would seem to have been a factor, for at
the next session held in Hamilton, there were only seven Actives absent.

The lack of attendance by Honorary Inspectors General also began to
give some concern about this time. "An impression seems to exist that unless
advanced to the rank of Actives, their presence is a matter of no importance.
This is quite wrong. Our deliberations for the most part are open to Honorary
members, whose views on matters affecting the Rite generally can and should
be set forth by them in the regular conduct of our affairs x x x x It is the
duty of Honorary members as well as Actives to make a good deal of sacrifice
in order to swell the attendance." (Hon. John M. Gibson, Sovereign Grand
Commander, 1909 p. 13)

At the 1921 session it was decided that the travelling expenses of all Active
and Past Active members of the Council be paid when attending annual sessions
(1922 p. 24, 70) also the expenses of Deputies when making official visits.

—738—

Membership

At the beginning of this period, membership in the various Valleys pro-
gressed more slowly, due it was believed to a conservative emphasis, but the
economic situation was probably a factor.

In 1907 the Sovereign Grand Commander stated "The initiates in the
Lodges of Perfection two years ago numbered some 250, dropped last year
to about 220 but for the present year has exceeded 280. This increase has not
been due to sudden accessions in any one particular \'alley but has been dis-
tributed in fairly equal proportion over all our Bodies in the Dominion."

A very substantia4 increase in membership was recorded during 1912, in
"Perfection" membership, a gain of more than twenty-five percent all along
the line;" more degrees being presented in full and better attendance at Maundy
Thursday and Easter ceremonies.

In 1915 at the end of forty years under the Supreme Council the number
of 14° Masons stood at 4,349 or about seven per cent of the Master Masons
in Canada.

During the war period 1915-19 the various bodies throughout Canada
experienced prosperity and progress greater than during any previous period.
Large classes were everywhere the order of the day.

In 1917 the net membership in Lodges of Perfection was reported at 4,951
an increase of 339; Rose Croix Chapters 2,942 an increase of 154; Consistories
1,635 an increase of 103.

The First War

The affairs of the Supreme Councils of the world were dominated by the
events of the First World War. Every address reflected the presence of war.

The names of numerous members of the Rite and their sons were to be found

in the casualty lists. Two sons of Sir John Gibson were killed in action, the

son of the Secretary General, W. H. Ballard was also a casualty. Other

members of the Supreme Council were represented on the firing line by over

thirty sons. Numerous members were active in patriotic societies, or recruiting

or relieving t!:e needy and bereaved. Sixteen members of the Rite made the

Supreme Sacrifice for King and Country.

Ritual

In 1917, a Committee was appointed to revise the rituals of the various
degrees and ceremonies. A new Committee was appointed in 1919 with A. F.
Webster as Chairman, which promptly undertook the very great task and
v.ere able to exemplify the revised ritual for the 4th, 14th, 18th and 30th
degrees, which were approved and adopted by the Supreme Council and ordered
to be distributed to the subordinate bodies concerned.

—739-

At the session of 1921, the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 15th, 19th, 21st, 22nd,
and 27th degrees were submitted, approved and adopted.

At the session of 1923, the 12th, 13th, 20th, and 30th degrees as revised
by the Committee were approved and adopted.

In 1924 the 32° was revised, and approved for use by all Consistories.

Regalia

In 1901 the Council adopted chain collars similar to those worn by the
officers of the Supreme Council of the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction, but
with a difference in the shape of the double-headed Eagle. Sixteen collars
with eagles were purchased for immediate use.

In 1907 a ruling was made that the alteration of a 14° ring so as to insert
the figures 32° is illegal (1907, p. 63). The change of the collar jewel for the
32° from the Teutonic Cross to a black double-headed eagle was proposed
in 1912. After discussion it was resolved that brethren already using the eagle
jewel be permitted to continue to wear same, but in 1924 it was ruled that
the proper jewel must be worn by all members without exception (1924, p.
18-19, 58-9).

Distinctions were made in the Grand Decoration as worn by Active, Past
Active and Honorary members in 1921 (p. 62-65).

International Conference — Brussells

In 1904 a convention of representatives of Supreme Council was summoned
by the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of Belgium to
meet at Brussells in the spring of 1905, but was postponed because of the

Medallion coiinncmorafing Washington Conference 1912

—lAO—

refusal of the three Councils in the British Isles to take part in it, although
the two Supreme Councils in the U.S.A. and that of Canada had accepted the
invitation. The only answer given by- the Supreme Council of England was
that "It could not lead to any satisfactory result."

The invitation was renewed in 1906 the conference to open on June 10,
1907. The programme had been abridged apparently to eliminate some subjects
to which objection had been taken. The programme dealt with:

(1) The legitimacy of Supreme Councils

(2) The defence against irregular organizations and

(3) The unity o'f the Rite.

Canada appointed two representatives, the Sovereign Grand Commander (Hon.
John M. Gibson) and John V. Ellis, Their attendance was on the distinct
understanding that the agreements reached at the Conference should be advisory
only (1907 p. 11).

A conference of the six English-speaking Supreme Councils was held in
London just previously to the Brussells conference and resulted in a better
understanding among them on common problems.

The Brussells conference affirmed the advisability of holding a conference
of Supreme Councils every five years although the three British Councils
were not represented at Brussells, there were 24 delegates present representing
21 other Supreme Councils. A very full account of the programme will be
found in the Proceedings of our Supreme Council for 1907 (p. 49, 139).

Washington 1912

Another International Conference was planned to meet at Washington in
October, 1911, but was postponed to the following year, when it was hoped the
new Temple would be fully completed. Again the three British Councils de-
clined the invitation, apparently because of their reluctance to become en-
tangled in discussions with Masonic bodies of Latin countries in Europe and
Am.erica where Grand Orients control and political policies come frequently
under review. As our Sovereign Grand Commander, John Morison Gibson
expressed it "The genius of Masonry is not absolutely identical in the nations
thrcu'jhout the world in which the Scottish Rite Masonry is represented." (1911
p. 16)

This Conference also dealt with, or rather discussed, the subject of legit-
imacy of Supreme Councils, irregular and spurious organizations and the
unity of the Rite.

All resolutions adopted were regarded as advisory only until specifically
ratified and adopted by any individual Supreme Council.

—741-

The principal resolutions of the Conference afterwards accepted by the
Canadian Supreme Council were:

( 1 ) recommending arbitration as the most fraternal and practical way of
adjusting differences between Supreme Councils.

(2) the desirability of uniformity in signs, tokens, works and arcana or
secret work and designating the Supreme Council of Switzerland as the cus-
todian of such information.

(3) that a medal commemorative of the Conference of 1912 be struck to
be distributed to participants in the Conference (1913 p. 12).

(4) that the 26 Councils represented at this conference and the three
British Councils were all regular and legitimate.

Lausanne 1921

At the Washington Conference of 1912 it was decided that the next
Conference should be held at Lausanne in 1917, under the auspices of the
Supreme Council of Switzerland. The War, however, interfered with the
proposal. At the end of the War, Switzerland fixed May 1921 date for the
Third International Conference. Our Supreme Council proceeded with great
caution in the matter of committing itself to participation in the proposed
conference (1920 p. 65) unless in harmony with the action of the three British
Councils.

One of the subjects proposed for discussion was the establishment of a
permanent Secretariat under the guidance of a Supreme Council to be desig-
nated by the Conference. The Canadian Supreme Council felt that this proposal
would "subordinate the authority of a Supreme Council to that of all the
Councils" and would reduce the initiative and diminish the sovereignity of the
Councils" and (1921 p. 23-33), on this ground, the Supreme Council decided
not to send delegates to the proposed conference.

The Conference (May 29 - June 3, 1921) was attended by all of the
Councils in the world with the exception of Canada and tliosc of the British
Isles. The Conference adopted resolutions

(a) declaratory of the right of Supreme Councils to select their members
and officers without interference or intervention by Grand Lodges or other
^lasonic organizations.

(b) recognizing the impossibility of adopting uniform words, signs, l)at-
tcries, certificates and diplomas.

Other resolutions had to do with the absolute control of Councils over
the selection of members, terms of officers, qualifications, and discipline; and
notice to all other Councils in amity whenever recognition of another Council
may be withdrawn. .\t its 1923 session the Canadian Supreme Council gave
adherence to all but one of these resolutions (1922 p. 29-31 ; 1922 i). 59).

—742—

Jubilee of Rite in Canada

In 1917 the Sovereign Grand Commander recommended that the jubilee
of the founding of the Rite in Canada in 1868 be observed in 1918, and a
committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Frederick J. Howell,
Deputy for Ontario to promote the commemoration (1917 p. 21, 44, 72), 74).
In accordance with plans, a special Session of Supreme Council was held at
Hamilton on January 23, .1918, in connection with a special semi-centennial
reunion of the Hamilton bodies. On this occasion, 24 Active members of the
Council were present, together with four Actives from the Northern Juris-
diction U.S.A. and 24 Honorary members. The 33° Honorary was conferred
on seven brethren and two others were crowned as Active members of the
Council. Bro. William M. Logan 2)Z° submitted a brief account of the events
of July 10, 1868, when the Rite was initiated at London, Ontario, by Col.
W. J. B. McLeod Moore, and steps were taken for the establishment of Moore
Consistory and Hamilton Rose Croix Chapter at Hamilton. He also outlined
the progress made leading to the formation of the Supreme Council in
October 1874.

At the meeting of Supreme Council at Toronto on November 20th, 1918
the Sovereign Grand Commander made further reference to the introduction
of the Rite into Canada, in his allocution at the opening of the Council.

History Committee

The commemoration in 1918 of the jubilee of the foundation of the Rite
in 1868, led to the appointment of a committee to compile the history of the
Rite in Canada (1918 p. 76) but apart from short sketches nothing was
accomplished in later years.

Hamilton Scottish Rite Cathedral

On May 7, 1923, a special session of the Supreme Council was also held
at Hamilton for the purpose of dedicating the new Cathedral erected at a cost
of nearly $400,000.00. The ceremony was conducted by Sir John M. Gibson,
Sovereign Grand Commander. Among the visitors present were Amos Pettibone,
Past Lieut. Grand Commander, Robert A. Shirreffs, Secretary General and
James Isaac Buchanan, Active Member of the Northern Jurisdiction U.S.A.

The last named delivered a most outstanding address, himself a member
of an old Hamilton family and well acquainted with the Canadian scene and
tradition.

The occasion was followed by a reunion of the Hamilton bodies which
continued throughout the week, during which nearly all the degrees from the
4th to the 32nd were exemplified.

A full description of this magnificent Cathedral will be found in our
Proceedings for 1923 (p. 2,7).

—743—

—744—

Jubilee Session of Council

The meeting at Vancouver in 1924 commemorating the first fifty years of
the Supreme Council was the first assembly when a planned excursion train
stopping along the way to the place of meeting was a feature of the assembly.
The special train left Toronto on September 21 stopping over enroute at
Winnipeg, Regina and Edmonton with meetings, dinners, motor drives and
entertainments at such stop-overs. The programme for the ladies was especially
enjoyable. A side trip was made to Victoria, Seattle and Portland. Such a
train excursion has since been a feature of nearly all annual assemblies.

In his allocation the Sovereign Grand Commander J. Alex Cameron,
reviewed the events of 1868 when the Rite was introduced into Canada, and
those of 1874 when the Council itself was established under T. Douglas
Harington, its first Sovereign Grand Commander. 111. Bro. Cameron referred
to the distinguished leaders of the past half century Col. W. J. B. McLeod
Moore, John Walter Murton, William Henry Hutton, John Valentine Ellis
and others. Only one of the founders had survived to the present day, Hugh
Alexander MacKay, and who for the first time in the history of the Council
was absent from its annual meeting.

In that fifty years the Council had extended its jurisdiction and influence
from the Atlantic with at least one effective working body in each Province,
to the Pacific Coast where they were meeting for the first time.

The progress made in the fifty years (1874-1924) was amazing as was
indicated by the following statistics.

1874 1899 1924

Lodges of Perfection 1 14 26

Chapters Rose Croix 8 12 21

Consistories 3 5 8

12 31 55

In the twenty-five years that had elapsed some 16 or 18 bodies had dis-
appeared through merger or surrender of their warrants.

Membership

Lodges of Perfection 238

Rose Croix Chapters 157

Consistories 81

Invested Funds

Nil $12,478 $105,900

The above statistics speak for themselves.

1715

10904

907

6945

493

3905

—745—

—746—

tf--

No. 40 I

CANADIAN i|

MASONIC RESEARCH \\

ASSOCIATION ji

The Correspondence between the i -.

i '

Supreme Grand Chapter of England | }

and the i I

i I

Grand Chapter of Canada, 1 1

1857-1862 jl

by Most Excellent Companion I I

if
REGINALD V. CONOVER, O.B.E., I

Grand Historian 1 |

Read at the ^^ meeting of the Association, held at ! f

1 Toronto, Ontario, November 10, 1957 = j

I <

■ I >

! U

•H^' — " — " — " — " — •■ — " — " — " — " — " — " — " — •" — " — " — " — " — " — "" — " — " — ••*•!

—747—

The Correspondence with England, 1857- 62

By Most Excellent Comp. Reginald V. Conover, O.B.E.

The cordial and fraternal reception of the announcement of the formation
of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in the Province of
Canada stimulated the efforts of those Companions who had for such a long
period attempted to form a governing body for the Royal Arch late in 1856.
M. W. Brother William Mercer Wilson, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
of Canada addressed a circular letter to all Royal Arch Chapters holding
warrants attached to lodges affiliated with the Grand Lodge summoning them
to send accredited representatives to a convention to be held in the city of
Hamilton on the 19th of January, 1857.

The following representatives from duly warranted chapters were present
on that date: Ex. Comps. Kivas Tully, Past Z, St. John's Chapter, Toronto;
Thomas Duggan, Charles Magill, and John Harris, of the Hiram Chapter,
Hamilton ; Thomas B. Harris, St. John's Chapter, Hamilton, and Companions
W. C. Stephens, Richard Bull and William Mercer Wilson, Grand Master.
After prolonged discussion it was resolved to form a Grand Royal Arch
Chapter for the Province of Canada. The meeting adjourned to meet again
the following day when the following representatives were also present : Ex.
Comps. Thomas Francis, Joseph E. Rolphe, and William Daniell, H., of St.
John's Chapter, London ; Comps. J. R. Holden, H., of St. John's Chapter,
Hamilton; and James Riddell, Henry Grist, J. M. Rogerson, Mills Harley
and others.

The name chosen for the new Grand Chapter was "THE GRAND
CHAPTER OF ROYAL ARCH MASONS OF CANADA." Officers were
elected and the constitution of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England was
adopted as a guide.

As the Grand Chapters of Royal Arch Masons in the U.S.A. bordering
on Canada refused to admit visitors who were in possession of only the Royal
Arch degree, it was decided that the Mark Master, Past Master and Most
Excellent Master's degree be included in the Canadian system, but that Royal
Arch Masons who have taken the Royal Arch degree in any regularly war-
ranted chapter under any other recognized jurisdiction might be admitted
as visitors. The degrees of Mark, Past and Most Excellent Master were to
be conferred in lodges separately opened under a Chapter regularly
warranted by the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Canada.

Grand Chapter adjourned to meet on the 2nd of April, 1857. M. E. Comp.
Czar Jones, Past Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch
Masons of Michigan was present according to arrangement and installed and
invested M. Ex. Comp. William Mercer Wilson of Simcoe, Grand Z ; R. Ex,
Comp. A. Bernard, Grand H. ; R. Ex. Comp. Thomas Duggan of Hamilton,

—748—

Grand J.; R. E. Comp. Thomas Bird Harris of Hamilton, Grand Scribe E.,
R. E. Comp. William Daniell of London, Grand Scribe N. ; Ex. Comp.
William Bellhouse of Hamilton, Grand Treasurer and Comp. John Morrison
of Hamilton, Grand Janitor. M. E. Comp. Jones declared The Grand Chapter
of Royal Arch Masons of Canada duly formed and it was so proclaimed.

Address

On October 8th, 1857, an especial convocation was held in London to
approve an address to be forwarded to all Grand Jurisdictions and all Royal
Arch Chapters in Upper and Lower Canada, reading as follows :

To all Most Excellent Grand Chiefs, the Grand Officers and Companions
of the Grand Chapters of Royal Arch Masons.

"We, the Grand Principals, Grand Officers, and Companions of the Grand
Royal Arch Chapter of Canada, with fraternal regards,

SEND GREETING:

"In accordance with ancient usage, and earnestly desirous of cultivating
and cementing those feelings of fraternal union, the practice of which has
not only rendered our Order illustrious throughout the world, but has also
ensured its permanency and efficiency, the GRAND ROYAL ARCH
CHAPTER OF CANADA feel it to be their bounden duty to prepare and
forward to the recognised authorities of the Royal Craft, situated without the
boundaries of this jurisdiction, a statement of the principal reasons which led
to the organization of a controlling power over Royal Arch Masonry in this
Province, and at the same time to communicate to them the fact of such
organization.

"The absence from our Chapters of that harmony and prosperity, which
should ever distinguish the proceedings of Royal Arch Masons, induced many
of our more zealous companions to institute a careful inquiry into the causes
which had contributed to the apparent decline of the Royal Craft in Canada,
and it soon became evident that this was solely to be attributed to the diversity
of interests and to the want of uniformity, in work and action, existing among
the various Chapters in this Province ; these Bodies holding warrants from
different Grand Chapters and working under different constitutions, neither
assimilated in their views nor feelings ; their funds were drained, and their
usefulness diminished, by the transmission of the required fees to their Parent
Grand Chapters, they were thus left unable to meet the claims made by distressed
Companions hailing from the various Chapters of Europe and America.

"In addition to these obstacles it may also be remarked, the system of
work authorised by the Grand Chapter of England does not recognize the
degrees of Mark Master, Past Master, and Most Excellent Master; and the
Chapters in this Province were thus placed in a most embarrassing situation,
as the work performed by them in these several degrees was not only contrary
to, but inconsistent with, the rules and regulations of that Grand Chapter ;

—749—

THOMAS DOUGLAS HARINGTON

Grand Z. Grand Chapter of Canada

—750-

while, on the other hand, the Chapters in the United States of America
absolutely required that all visitors should have previously received these degrees
before they could be admitted.

"Taking these circumstances into consideration, and with a view to obviate
the difficulties under which the Royal Craft labored in this Province, a
Circular was addressed to the Chapters holding Warrants attached to Lodges
affiliating with the Grand Lodge of Canada, requiring them to send duly qual-
ified Representatives to a Convention, to be held at the City of Hamilton, on
the 19th day of January, A.D. 1857.

"The Convention having assembled at the time and place appointed and
a constitutional number of Chapters being represented by their properly quali-
fied officers, the whole subject was taken into serious consideration and it
was unanimously Resolved, — That it was expedient and necessary to establish
an independent governing power over Royal Arch Masonry in Canada.

"The Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada having thus been formed in
accordance with universal usages was then duly established, a constitution
requiring that the degrees of Mark Master, Past Master and Most Excellent
Master, should be conferred on all candidates previous to their being exalted
to the Royal Arch degree, or admitted to membership, was adopted and the
following Companions were elected as Grand Officers: — M.E. Companion
Wm. Mercer Wilson, Grand 1st Principal, Z. ; R.E. Companion Dr. A. Bernard,
Grand 2nd Principal, H. ; R.E. Companion Dr. Thomas Duggan, Grand 3rd
Principal, J.; and Comps., of ability to the other offices of the Grand Chapter.

"The Convention was again summoned to meet at Hamilton on the 2nd
day of April, A.D. 1857, upon which occasion the Grand Officers, elect, were
regularly installed and proclaimed, in Ancient form, by M.E. Companion Czar
Jones, Past Grand High Priest of the State of Michigan.

"The Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada having been thus duly formed,
and being engaged with yourselves in promulgating the genuine principles of
the Royal Craft, and feeling, at the same time, earnestly desirous of cultivating
a friendly intercourse with your distinguished body, cordially extend to you
the right hand of fellowship and confidently claim from your Grand Chapter
a fraternal recognition.

"Signed on behalf of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada,

(L.S.) Wm. M. Wilson, Z.

Thos. B. Harris,

G.S.E."

The address was approved and forwarded to all chapters attached to
lodges in Upper Canada and all known Royal Arch Jurisdictions.

At the special convocation held in Toronto on the 20th of January, 1858,
the Committee on Constitution reported, when it was resolved that the presiding
officers of Chapters be denominated First, Second and Third Principals and
that the designation Zerubbabel, Haggai and Joshua should apply to the First,
Second and Third Principals.

—751 —

Replies Received

On the 16th of February, 1859, the Committee on Fraternal Correspondence
reported to the second annual convocation in London, that only one Grand
Chapter, Massachusetts, had refused recognition. The official recognition
received from New York, Alabama, Connecticut, Vermont, Florida, Illinois,
New Jersey, Indiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island, Texas,
Delaware and Louisiana had been most cordial and friendly.

Ireland

The Grand Chapter of Ireland recognized the Grand Chapter of Canada
as follows : —

"To the Most Excellent Grand Principals, The Grand Officers and Com-
panions of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada,

"We, the Grand Principals, the Grand Officers and Companions of the
Supreme Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland, send Greetings, —

"At the Quarterly Convention of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland,
held in Dublin on the 17th day of February, 1858, a memorial was read from
the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada setting forth, 'That the
Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Canada had held a Convention at
Hamilton, on the 2nd day of April, 1857, and had regularly installed its Grand
Officers, and the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Canada having
been thus duly formed and being engaged in promoting the genuine principles
of the Royal Craft, and feeling at the same time earnestly desirous of culti-
vating a friendly intercourse with the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland,
cordially extend the right hand of fellowship and confidently claim from the
Grand Chapter of Ireland, a fraternal recognition.

"It was proposed, seconded, and agreed to, 'That as the Grand Lodge of
Ireland had recognized the Grand Lodge of Canada working in connection with
the above designed Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada, as an independent
Grand Lodge, that the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada be informed
that the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland acknowledges the Grand Royal
Arch Chapter of Canada as an independent Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch
Masons, and reciprocates the Masonic feelings expressed in the communication ;
but that it demands for the Chapters in Canada and individual companions who
prefer to retain their Masonic connexion with the Grand Royal Arch Chapter
of Ireland the free exercise of their existing Masonic rights, and requires that
the Royal Arch Warrant of any Chapter whose Blue Warrant has been or is
about to be returned to the Grand Lodge of Ireland shall be surrendered to
the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland ;

"And the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland further demands the
continuance of its present privileges of issuing on proper memorial Royal Arch

—752—

warrants to be attached to any symbolical Lodge, under the jurisdiction of the
Grand Lodge of Ireland, (in Canada).

"Signed by order of, and for the Grand Royal Arch Chapter,

"Lucius H. Deering,

"Grand Scribe."

England

At an especial Convocation in the City of Kingston on Thursday, 12th
day of July, A.D.' 1859, the Grand Scribe E. read the following letter which
he had received from the Grand Scribe E. of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch
Chapter of England in answer to the address which had been forwarded : —

"Freemasons' Hall, London, W.C.,

June 16th, 1859.

"Excellent Companion :

"The address of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of Canada
to the Supreme Grand Chapter of England was, agreeably to the request con-
tained in your letter of the 22nd March last, laid before the Convocation which
was held in May, when it was decided that the matter should be referred to the
three Grand Principals, by whom the same has accordingly been taken into
consideration.

"I am directed by them to state in answer to the Address, that with every
desire to preserve friendly and fraternal intercourse with the Canadian Masons
of every degree, they feel that they cannot, consistently with their duty, enter-
tain official relations with a Body which holds, as essential to admission within
its pale, the possession of degrees which are not recognized by the Grand Lodge
or the Grand Chapter of England.

"I have the honour to be,

"Excellent Companion,

"Fraternally yours,

"WM. GRAY CLARKE,

"G.S.E.

"Thos. B. Harris, Esq.,
"Grand Scribe E.,

"Grand Chapter of Canada,
"Hamilton, C.W."

—753—

Reply By Canada

Grand Chapter, by motion, duly authorized the Grand Principals to cor-
respond with the Supreme Grand Chapter of England on the matters alluded
to in the above-mentioned letter, and M.E. Comp. T. D. Harington conducted
the correspondence. His first letter read as follows, and was addressed to the
Earl of Zetland ;

"Toronto, Canada,
"1st Aug., 1859.

"My Lord and M.E. Comp. —

"I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a communication, dated
the 16th June last, from the Grand Scribe E. of the Supreme Grand Chapter
of England to the Grand Scribe E. of the Grand Chapter of Canada, informing
him that the Address of the latter to the former Body, on the subject of
recognition, &c., had been referred to the three Grand Principals of England;
who, 'with every desire to preserve a friendly and fraternal intercourse with
the Canadian Masons of every degree, could not consistently with their duty,
entertain official relations with a Body, which holds as essential to admission
into its pale, the possession of degrees, which are not recognized by the Grand
Lodge, or the Grand Chapter of England.'

"At an Especial Convocation of the Grand Chapter of Canada, this com-
munication was laid before the Companions, and elicited from each and all
an expression of unfeigned regret, arising not only from their anxiety to be in
close communion with the Grand Chapter of England, but from disappoint-
ment ; for they naturally concluded that as all difficulties connected with the
Grand Lodges were happily arranged, the same satisfactory result would be
easily matured as regarded the two Grand Chapters. The Companions, how-
ever, were impressed with the belief that the Grand Scribe's letter had been
written under a misconception, and for the purpose of arriving at a speedy and
correct solution, they were pleased to authorise me, as their First Grand Prin-
cipal, to communicate with your Lordship, and I do earnestly hope that success
may attend my efforts, and that at the next meeting of the Grand Chapter
of Canada I may be able to announce that there is not one single difficulty
existing between the England and Canadian Craft of every degree. I am per-
sonally encouraged to address your Lordship by my knowledge of your in-
dividual exertions to establish complete harmony.

"To begin, then. The Grand Chapter of Canada cannot comprehend how
the introduction of certain intermediate degrees (absolutely necessary on this
side of the Atlantic, and without the possession of which no R.A. Masons can
enter a Chapter in the United States of America, where our Masonic inter-
course is continuous) can cause the Grand Principals of England to decline
recognition and the establishment of regular official relations between the two
Bodies, inasmuch as England does not repudiate Ireland and Scotland, who
sanction and work very nearly the same intermediate degrees that the Grand
Chapter of Canada authorizes.

—754—

"The Laws of the Grand Chapter of Ireland declare that— The degree of
Mark Master Mason shall be practised under the jurisdiction and protection
of the Grand R.A. Chapter, and by such Lodges only as have R.A. Warrants,'
— and what are called the Exct. and Supreme Exct. degrees form a portion of
the R.A. Ceremony.

"The Laws of the Grand Chapter of Scotland are more peremptory still,
for they declare that — 'no one shall be exalted to the R.A. Degree until he has
received the degrees of Mark Master and Past Master; (both of these being
Chair Master's Degrees) as also the Exct. Master's degree, (containing in it
the three points commonly called in Scotland, the Exct., Super. Exct.
and the R.A.') Scotland also empowers all Chapters — 'to grant the degrees
of Mark, Past, Exct. and R.A., — as also the Royal Ark Mariner and the
Babylonish Pass, which last is commonly but erroneously called the Red Cross,
and is composed of three points — Knight of the Sword, Knight of the East,
and Knight of the East and West.

"The Chapters of the United States oblige all Companions (English or
otherwise) to take the three intermediate degrees before permitting them to
be present at the R.A. degree. This is called 'healing'. I am not able to say
whether the Grand Chapter of England holds official intercourse with any of
the Grand Chapters of the United States.

"Taking these well known facts into consideration, the Grand Chapter of
Canada came to the natural conclusion that the Grand Principals of England,
when they directed the Grand Scribe E. to write the words — 'as essential
to admission into its pale,' — must have been under the impression that before
a R.A. Mason hailing under England could enter a Canadian Chapter, the
possession of the intermediate degrees was imperative.

"My Lord, If this impression prevails, I assure you it is founded in error,
English R.A. Masons can enter our Chapters as freely, and will be received
as cordially, as though no such intermediate degrees ever had existence. Should
they apply for membership, they would (when accepted) become amenable
to our Constitution, and the conferring of the intermediate degrees would
follow as a matter of course; but their standing as R.A. Masons would not be
affected one iota thereby.

"I do hope I make my meaning plain, — that your Lordship and the other
Grand Principals, and, through you, the Supreme Grand Chapter of England,
will be satisfied, and that the natural yearning of the Grand Chapter of Canada
for your recognition will meet with speedy and complete gratification.

"I send to you, M.E. Companion, the printed proceedings of the Grand
Chapter of Canada, which will afford you more information than can be
comprised in the compass of a letter, and I would request your special reference
to portions thereof at pages 5, 13 and 16, and to our Constitution printed at
length with the proceedings. At page 52 your Lordship will find our recognition
by the Grand Chapter of Ireland, and the Grand Chapter of Scotland has re-
cently addressed a most gratifying communication to us, a copy of which I
transmit.

-755—

"In conclusion, I cannot help repeating that I do most earnestly hope
and trust, that the objection entertained by the Grand Principals of the Grand
Chapter of England will now cease to exist ; that our prof ferred right hand of
fellowship, M.E. Companion, will at once and for ever be cordially grasped,
as it is heartily extended ; and that the hearts of the Canadian Companions
(my own included) will speedily be gladdened by the receipt from Old England
of a satisfactory communication to that effect in reply to this one.

"With sentiments of sincere esteem for your Lordship personally, believe
me ever to remain, my Lord and M.E. Comp.,

"Yours most respectfully and fraternally,

"T. DOUGLAS HARINGTON, G.Z.

"Grand Chapter of Canada.
"The Right Honble.
"The Earl of Zetland,

"M.E., 1st Grand Principal,

"Supreme Grand Chapter of England."

England Replies

'Freemasons' Hall, London, W.C,
"7th October. 1859.

'Most Excellent Companion, —

"Referring to your communication addressed to the Most Excellent the
First Grand Principal, the Earl of Zetland, relative to the recognition of the
Grand Chapter of Canada, by the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, I am
commanded by his Lordship to state, that in a matter of so much importance
it is essential that the most careful consideration should be given to the case
in all its bearings ; that at this season of the year his Lordship and the other
Grand Principals are away from London, and that one of them is not at this
present time in England ; and that it is probable they may deem it expedient
to refer the matter back to the Grand Chapter before any definite reply is
given to your letter.

"In the meantime I am directed to require the favor of your affording
some precise information as to the position and privileges of Royal Arch Masons
under our Constitution who may visit Chapters holding under the Grand
Chapter of Canada, and regarding which some uncertainty exists in this country.
I am more especially to ascertain whether an Installed Principal under our
Constitution is permitted to enter any one of your Chapters, to be present at
the opening, and to remain and witness the whole of your ceremonies from
the opening to the closing of the Chapter ; or whether, when an exaltation is
about to take place, he is not called upon to retire on the ground that degrees,
essential to Royal Arch Masonry, as practised in Canada but unknown to him,
are to be conferred ; and whether he is not kept out of the Chapter until the
termination of such intermediate ceremonies, and only re-admitted to witness
the closing of the Chapter.

—756—

"I have to state in conclusion that, inasmuch as the Grand Lodge of Canada
has been fully recognized by the Grand Lodge of England, it is the earnest
desire of all parties in this country to maintain the most friendly intercourse
with Masons of all grades in Canada; but it is felt desirable that the fullest
information should be obtained as to the position of Royal Arch Masons under
the English Constitution before any decisive step is taken to establish official
relations with the Grand Chapter of Canada.

"Trusting, therefore, to your courtesy to convey the desired information,
I have the honor to be,

"Most Excellent Companion,

"Your obedient servant and Brother,

WM. GRAY CLARKE, G.S.E.
"T. Douglas Harington, Esq., Z.

"Grand Chapter of Canada, Toronto."

Harington Replies

"Quebec, Canada, 20th Dec, 1859.
"Dear Sir and E. Companion —

"I have to acknowledge your communication of the 7th of October last,
and must apologize for not replying to it sooner; but as you state that the
question relative to the complete recognition of the Grand Chapter of Canada
will probably be referred back to the Supreme Grand Chapter of England,
before a definite decision is arrived at, which I am aware cannot be done before
February next, I was desirous of consulting the Grand Scribe E, who was in
possession of the previous correspondence, and for this I had plenty of time
before me. Circumstances, however, connected with the removal of the Govern-
ment from Toronto to this city and my own health, which required looking
after, prevented my seeing the Grand Scribe, Companion T. B. Harris, at
Hamilton, until a fortnight since. Both he and I felt rather at a loss what
further information I could furnish, inasmuch as in my former letter to the
M.E. the First Grand Principal of England, I distinctly assured him that
English Royal Arch Masons could enter and remain in our Chapters as freely
as though certain intermediate Degrees, (deem.ed expedient here) had never
existed.

"Will you now be so good as to explain to the M.E., the First Grand
Principal, the Earl of Zetland, that those intermediate degrees, (viz : Mark
Master, Past Master and Most Excellent Master) although under the control
of, are not conferred in Chapter at all. They are preliminary and are worked
at separate times, each degree having its distinct opening and closing as a
Lodge. The Royal Arch Chapter (par excellence) is opened as in England.
Candidiates for Exaltation give evidence of their knowledge of the three inter-
mediate degrees, but not Companion visitors. It is only necessary for these
last to prove themselves Royal Arch Masons. Therefore any English Royal
Arch Mason, whether an installed Principal or not, can enter any one of our
Chapters as freely as his own, be present at the opening and remain and witness

—757—

the whole ceremony of Exaltation, and assist at the closing of the Chapter.
He need not retire there-from for one moment, unless by his own desire made
known in the usual manner. You may rely on the correctness of this, and I
do earnestly hope that what I have now written will remove all uncertainty
and difficulty.

"I can think of nothing further, except to assure you of the anxiety of
the Grand Chapter of Canada and myself, as its temporary Head, for the
establishment of the most lasting and sincere cordiality between the two Bodies.

"I hope I shall hear from you very soon, and would request you to
address me here. Your last letter went to Toronto in the first instance. Wishing
you the old English compliments of the season — a Merry Xmas and Happy
New Year, believe me, dear Sir, and Ex. Companion,

"Yours very fraternally,

"T. DOUGLAS HARINGTON, G.Z.
"Grand Chapter of Canada.
"Excellent Companion,
"Wm. Gray Clarke, Esq.,

"Grand Scribe E., &c., &c., &c.,"

Scotland

The Grand Z was also able to report : — "Our recognition by the Supreme
Grand Chapter of Scotland and I am happy to report is complete as the
following very gratifying communication will prove to you : —

"Edinburgh, 30th June, 1859.

"To the Most Excellent the Grand Principals, Office Bearers, and Companions
of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Canada —

"GREETING:

"We, the Chairman of Committee and Scribe E. of the Supreme Grand
Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland, as authorized by the minutes of meeting held
on Wednesday, 15th inst., beg leave to acknowledge receipt of an Address
then laid before this Chapter from the Supreme Grand Chapter of Canada,
wherein, after detailing the grounds on which it was considered necessary to
institute a controlling power in that Province over Royal Arch Masonry and
the happy accomplishment of their object, they proffer the right hand of fellow-
ship and desire fraternal recognition.

"We are, at the same time, commanded to express the gratification which
it affords this Grand Chapter to be favored with a communication so much
in unison with that spirit which it is fitting and becoming to the head of Royal
Arch Masonry in one country to evince towards that of another, tending as its
is thought, in no small degree, not only to the prosperity of the Bodies under
separate control, but to the advancement of the Order in general. We have
further the satisfaction of expressing the delight which it gives the Grand
Chapter to accept of the fellowship tendered them in the Address now under

—758—

acknowledgement, and also the pleasure, which, by the mutual recognition of
each other, it is anticipated will follow their efforts in co-operating with the
Supreme Grand Chapter of Canada in any measure calculated to enhance the
dignity or promote the usefulness of the two Grand Bodies.

"In the name and by the appointment of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch
Chapter of Scotland, and the Seal of the same, caused to be affixed this thir-
teenth day of June, A.D, 1859, A.L., 5863.

(signed) "P. Cowan, Chairman of Committee.

"Wm. Gaynor, Grand Scribe E."
Reply From England

Following th annual Convocation of the Grand Chapter in 1859, a letter
was received by the M.E. Grand Z., from which it will be seen that a full
and fraternal recognition had been made by England and that the most har-
monious feelings existed between the two Grand Chapters,

"Freemasons' Hall, London, W.C.

"February 10, 1860.
"Most Excellent Companion—

"I have the honor to inform you that your letter of the 20th December
last, received the 10th ultimo, has been duly submitted to the consideration
of the three Grand Principals of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England.

"They are gratified to find that no obstacle now interposes to prevent
official relations being established between the Supreme Grand Chapter of
England, and the Grand Chapter of Canada, and relying on your assurance that
Royal Arch Masons under the Constitution of the Grand Chapter of England,
whether installed Principals or not, can enter any of the Chapters under the
jurisdiction of the Grand Chapter of Canada, be present at the opening, and
remain and witness the whole ceremony of exaltation, and assist at the closing,
and that they need not retire for one moment, unless at their own desire, al-
though they are not in possession of those intermediate degrees of Mark, Past
Master and Most Excellent, which are deemed essential to be taken by all
candidates for exaltation in Canada, previous to admission to the degree of the
Holy Royal Arch. I am instructed to state that in the name and on behalf of
the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, they — the Grand Principals — fully
recognize the Grand Chapter of Canada, reserving, however, to all Chapters
now in Canada, who are still holding charters under the Grand Chapter of
England, as also to all English Royal Arch Masons, all their rights, titles
and privileges, as fully and freely as though the Grand Chapter of Canada
had not been formed.

"I have the honor to be,
"Most Excellent Companion,

"Your Faithful Servant and Brother,

"T. Douglas Harington, Esq.,

"Grand Z. Grand Chapter of Canada,
"Quebec."

'WM. GRAY CLARKE,

"G.S.E.

—759—

An English Chapter at Ottawa

The pleasure and gratification of the companions resulting from this
recognition of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England was tempered by the
receipt of news via a report published in the London Freemasons' Magazine,
which recorded that a number of brethren of English obedience, at Ottawa,
Upper Canada, under Craft warrant No. 835 E.R. had determined to have a
chapter attached to their lodge and ignoring the Grand Chapter of Canada,
had sent their memorial to the Grand Chapter of England. The first intimation
of these unusual actions was made known to the Canadian Companions through
the medium of the Freemason's Magazine of 4th of August, 1860, which
reported as follows :

"The Quarterly Convocation of Grand Chapter, was holden on Wednesday
last, the first instant, (August.)

"The M.E.Z. stated that the first business to be brought before the com-
panions was the question of granting a Warrant for a R.A. Chapter, to be
attached to the Dalhousie Lodge (No. 835) at Ottawa, Canada West. That
lodge had always remained firm in its allegiance to the Grand Lodge of
England, but a question had arisen how far the Grand Chapter of England
could grant Warrants for new Chapters in Canada, without infringing on the
rights of the Grand Chapter of Canada. The question has been referred to the
Grand Principals for consideration, and they had arrived at the conclusion,
that, looking at the position of Dalhousie Lodge, it would be no infringement
of the rights of the Grand Chapter of Canada, to grant the Warrant for a new
Chapter, as prayed.

"It was moved and seconded, that the prayer of the petition be granted.

"Before, however, the motion was put, it was suggested that it would be
better to place upon record the motives for granting the Petition, and so to
frame the resolution, as to avoid giving offence to the Grand Chapter of
Canada, which suggestion was concurred in by the mover, and the resolution,
carried unanimously, was as follows :

"That the Charter for the Chapter prayed for to be attached to the Dal-
housie Lodge (No. 835) at Ottawa, be granted, the Supreme Grand Chapter
being of opinion that the granting of such Charter is necessary to complete
the degrees of Freemasonry, and is therefore part of the privileges of a Craft
Lodge, which privileges it has stipulated and been agreed to be secured to
all Lodges, holding under the Grand Lodge of England in Canada."

Grand Chapter, 1861

M.E. Comp. Harington, in his address, to the Fourth Annual Convocation,
1861, dealt with this matter, and commented on the action of England in the
following terms :

"The Grand Chapter will thus perceive that the right is claimed to attach
a Chapter to every Lodge in Canada, now acknowledging the authority of the

—760—

Grand Lodge of England, although this Grand Chapter has been fully recog-
nized as having jurisdiction throughout the Province, and the only condition
the Supreme Grand Chapter of England affixed to its complete recognition,
on the 10th of February, 1860, was — 'a reservation in favor of all Chapters,
now in Canada, who are still holding Charters under it, as also of all English
R.A, Masons, of all their rights, titles, and privileges, as fully and freely as
though the Grand Chapter of Canada had not been formed.'

"The laws of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England — Private Chapters,
Art. 1 — declare, 'that every Chapter shall be attached to some warranted
Lodge', &c. — and No. 2 — 'that no Lodge can form or hold a Chapter,
unless', &c. — by which, and the fact of certain officers of the Grand Lodge
of England being ex-officio officers of the Supreme Grand Chapter, and also
that No. 2, of the English Articles of Union, of 1813, specifies that 'pure
ancient Masonry consists of three degrees, and no more, viz : those of the
Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and the Master Mason, (including the
Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch.)' — the connection between Grand
Chapter and Grand Lodge is, I imagine, preserved, as the Constitution of the
Grand Lodge of England, is altogether silent on the subject.

"This peculiarity of the Constitutions of England, so different to our own,
and that of other Grand Bodies, must be borne in mind, although there seems
to be an inconsistency in a Grand Chapter granting a Charter for a Chapter,
because it is 'part of the privileges of a Craft Lodge'. The privilege is certainly
not looked upon as a right, because, if it were so considered, every Lodge would
have its Chapter as a matter of course, whereas the Supreme Grand Chapter
of England sometimes refuses the prayer for one, and even where the Charter
is granted, the members of the Craft Lodge, to which it is attached, do not
possess the privilege of being exalted in it, without undergoing the ordeal of
proposal, ballot, &c. so that it is reall}"^ distinct and independent,

"I cannot help feeling sorry that the Supreme Grand Chapter of England
acceded to the present application, for the act is one liable to create doubt,
to say the least of it, and the members of Dalhousie Lodge could apply to
the English Chapters, at present in existence in Canada 'for the completion
of their degrees,' as defined by England.

"You will understand on what ground the claim is based, by a perusal
of the Resolution, and I recommend the matter to your serious consideration,
as one calculated to create misunderstanding with a friendly Body, unless set
at rest by the position of such proposed new Chapters being defined, and the
Supreme Grand Chapter of England advised of your action in the premises
without loss of time. It is almost needless to state that the Charter, thus re-
ported to be granted, has not received any recognition from me, the Grand
Chapter being the legitimate authority to decide as to its merits, and the
solution of the question requires calm, and, at the same time, friendly dis-
cussion and deliberation."

—761—

The address of the Grand Z. was, as customary, referred to a committee
who endorsed the action of the Grand Z. and said :

"Your Committee notice with regret that the Supreme Grand Chapter of
England has granted a Warrant for the establishment of a Royal Arch Chapter
at the City of Ottawa, and that, although — before the same was submitted
to that Grand Chapter — a question had very naurally arisen how far such
action could be taken without infringing on the rights of this Grand Chapter.
It is the opinion of your Committee, that the Supreme Grand Chapter of
England — before committing itself to such a policy — should not have
referred the same to the three Grand Principals, and should not have decided
such a question without first ascertaining the views of your Grand Body ;
nay, more, your Committee consider that the Supreme Grand Chapter of
England should have deemed it proper and fraternal to advise this Grand
Chapter of the steps proposed to be taken, with the reasons therefore and the
law applicable thereto, so that this Grand Chapter would have obtained, by
official communication, what is now laid before it in the form of an extract
from a semi-official Masonic magazine.

"It also appears that, before the motion for granting the Warrant was
adopted, some motives were placed upon record ; but no motive can annul a
contract entered into between two Supreme Bodies, as set forth in the official
letter of the Grand Scribe E. of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, to
the M.E.Z. of this Grand Chapter, dated the 10th February, 1860, in the follow-
ing words : 'I am instructed to state that, in the name and on behalf of the
Supreme Grand Chapter of England, they, the Grand Principals, fully recognize
the Grand Chapter of Canada ; reserving, however, to all Chapters noiv in
Canada, who are still holding Charters under the Grand Chapter of England
have stipulated for such further rights, as by their showing they now lay claim
to; first, upon the assumption that it is the privilege of a Craft Lodge to de-
mand, as of right, a Charter from the Supreme Grand Chapter, under the
same jurisdiction as the Grand Lodge from which its Charter is derived, and
which assumption cannot certainly be sustained, or the prerogative of the
Supreme Grand Chapter, to grant or refuse Warrants, would at once fall to
the ground; but second, upon a treaty entered into between the Grand Lodge
of England and the Grand Lodge of Canada, that the privileges appertaining
to subordinate Lodges working under Warrants from the Grand Lodge of
England, in Canada, should be secured.

"Your committee hold that a Craft lodge cannot claim any privileges, but
those given in its Charter, which certainly contains nothing about the right
of receiving or conferring the Royal Arch degree ; and even that, did such
privilege exist, the action of the Grand Lodge of Canada could have no effect
upon this Grand Chapter, which holds its existence of itself alone, has been
so recognized by the Supreme Grand Chapter of England as totally distinct
from that of the Grand Lodge, and without any reference being made thereto.

"Your Committee is pleased to learn that the M.E.Z. of this Grand Chapter
has given no countenance to this new Chapter, so unjustly erected within its
jurisdiction by the Grand Chapter of England; and, however unpleasant the
task, it feels it to be a bounden duty, for the preservation of the rights of this

—762—

Grand Body in its fullest integrity, to recommend that this Grand Chapter do
not recognize the issue of a Chapter Warrant by the G.C. of E. to Dalhousie
Lodge, No. 835, E.R., as regular or constitutional ; and that the subordinate
Chapters under this jurisdiction be required neither to hold communication
nor give countenance to any Companions hailing from the said Chapter; and
that the action taken by this Grand Chapter in this matter, be communicated
by the Grand Scribe E. to the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, in such
terms as the Grand Z. may suggest."

Reply By Canada

The Correspondence with the Supreme G.C. of England, referred to in the
M.E.Z.'s Address follows :

"GRAND CHAPTER OF CANADA,

"Office of the Grand Scribe E,,
"Hamilton, 13th June, 1861.
"R.E. Companions and Dear Sir,

"I have the honor herewith to transmit a copy of Proceedings of the
Grand Chapter of Canada, at the Annual Convocation held at Belleville, on
the 20th of February last, and by the command of the M.E.Z., I am, in accord-
ance with the instructions of the Grand Chapter, to communicate through you,
R.E. Sir, to the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, the consideration at that
Convocation of the action of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, in issuing
a Chapter Warrant to the 'Dalhousie' Lodge, No. 835, on the registry of the
United Grand Lodge of England, at Ottawa, C.W.

"The subject was introduced in the M.E.Z.'s address, as a matter of grave
Importance, involving a principle which he conceived to be irreconcilable with
the terms of your letter of the 10th February, 1860, by which the constitutional
position of the Grand Chapter of Canada was recognized by the Supreme
Grand Chapter of England, in the following words : 'I am instructed to state
that in the name and on behalf of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England,
they, the Grand Principals, fully recognize the Grand Chapter of Canada,
reserving, however, to all Chapters now in Canada, who are still holding
charters under the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, all their rights and
privileges.'

"The M.E.Z. further felt that if the issuing of a Warrant by the Supreme
Grand Chapter of England, for a new Chapter in Canada, was passed over or
assented to by the Grand Chapter of Canada, it would establish a precedent
that would not fail to endanger the friendly understanding now happily exist-
ing between the two Grand Chapters.

"The Grand Chapter concurred in the view entertained on the subject
by the M.E.Z. , and painful as they felt the task to be, they nevertheless con-
sidered it their imperative duty at once, kindly, but firmly, to remonstrate with
the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, on the irregularity of the course
pursued in the issuing of this Warrant, and the consequent infringement on
the privileges of the Supreme Grand Chapter of Canada, also to urge the

—763—

reconsideration of the subject, feeling confidently assured that further reflec-
tion must result in an order for the immediate withdrawal of the Warrant.

"I have the honor to remain,
"R.A. Companion and Dear Sir,
"Yours faithfully and fraternally,

"THOS. B. HARRIS,
"R.E. Companion, "Grand Scribe E.

'Wm. Gray Clarke, Esq.,
"Grand Scribe E., England."

England's Reply

"Freemasons' Hall, London,
"12th Nov., 1861.

"Excellent Companion and Dear Sir,

"I have already communicated to you that at the stated meeting of the
Supreme Grand Chapter of England, held in the month of August last, your
letter dated the 13th of June, 1861, was read and the matter therein alluded
to, namely, the granting of a Charter by the Supreme Grand Chapter for a
Royal Arch Chapter to be attached to the 'Dalhousie' Lodge, No. 835, at
Ottawa, Canada West, was remitted back to the Committee of General Pur-
poses, with directions to examine the correspondence that had passed between
the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, and the Grand Master of
the Grand Lodge of Canada, and also between the Supreme Grand Chapter of
England and the Grand Chapter of Canada, and having reference to the reser-
vation of the rights and privileges of such Lodges and Chapters, and such
Craft and Royal Arch Masons in Canada, who have preferred to maintain
their allegiance to the Masonic authorities in this country from whom they
severally emanated, rather than place themselves under the Grand Lodge or
the Grand Chapter of Canada, and to report thereon to the Supreme Grand
Chapter, in November.

"And I have now the honor to inform you that at the Quarterly Convo-
cation of Grand Chapter, holden at Freemasons' Hall, on Wednesday last,
the sixth instant, the Committee made their report, of which I enclose you
two copies, and that the said report having been read it was unanimously
resolved 'That that portion of the report embodying the opinion of the Com-
mittee on the matter of the issue between this Grand Chaper, and the Grand
Chapter of Canada, be approved and adopted,' and it was further resolved
that this discussion of the Supreme Grand Chapter be communicated to you
for the information of the Grand Chapter of Canada.

"I have the honor to subscribe myself,
"Your very faithful Servant and Brother,

"WM. GRAY CLARKE,
"G. Scribe E. of the Supreme G. Chapter of England."
"E. Comp. Thos. Bird Harris,

"Grand Scribe E. of the Grand Chapter of Canada,
"Hamilton, C.W."

—764—

Extract from the Report of the Committee of General Purposes, referred to
in the foregoing letter,

"The Committee beg also to report that, in pursuance of a resolution
passed at the last Quarterly Convocation of the Grand Chapter, having re-
ference to an objection raised by the Grand Chapter of Canada, against the
recent grant of a Royal Arch Charter for a Chapter to be attached to the
'Dalhousie' Lodge, No. 835, at Ottawa, Canada West, on the alleged grounds
that the establishing of such Chapter was in contravention of the terms on
which the Grand Chapter of Canada had been recognized by the Supreme Grand
Chapter, they have carefully examined all the correspondence that has passed
between the Grand Masters and Grand Lodges of England and of Canada,
and also between the respective authorities on behalf of the Grand Chapters
of the two countries ; and they beg to call the attention of Grand Chapter to
the fact that, in the letter of the Grand Secretary, of the 16th of December,
1858, written by command of the M.W. Grand Master, the rights and privileges
of all Lodges and individual Masons holding under the Grand Lodge of Eng-
land, were especially reserved, in the following words ; 'As, however, there
are some few Lodges in Canada West who have signified their desire to retain
their attachment to, and immediate connection with, the Grand Lodge of Eng-
land, from whom they received the Warrants, the Grand Lodge and the Grand
Master feel that they are not at liberty to withdraw their protection from
such Lodges against their will, and therefore claim for them, from the Grand
Lodge of Canada, recognition of their present position, with all their Masonic
privileges, and those of their members respectively. The M.W. Grand Master
feels that this is simply an act of justice, and based on the same principle as
that enunciated in your communication.' And these rights and privileges were
acknowledged by the Grand Master of Canada (Brother Wm. M. Wilson) in
a letter, dated the 9th February, 1859, addressed to the M.W. Grand Master,
the Earl of Zetland, in the following words : T have ever held and frequently
expressed the opinion, that any subordinate Lodge, preferring to continue under
their English Warrants, had a perfect and undoubted right to do so; and
were entitled, not only to a recognition from us, but to all their Masonic
privileges.' The Committee also find in the letter of the Grand Scribe E., dated
the 10th of February, 1860, announcing the recognition of the Grand Chapter
of Canada by the Supreme Grand Chapter, the following words, viz: T am
instructed to state that, in the name and on behalf of the Supreme Grand
Chapter of England, they, the Grand Principals, fully recognize the Grand
Chapter of Canada ; reserving, however, to all Chapters now in Canada, who
are still holding Charters under the Grand Chapter of England, as also to all
English Royal Arch Masons, all their rights, titles and privileges, as fully
and freely as though the Grand Chapter of Canada had not been formed.'

"It will therefore be seen that in every instance have the rights and priv-
ileges of Lodges, and of the members of those Lodges, been fully reserved;
and the Committee are of opinion that the great privilege of every Mason
initiated under the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of England, is that of
taking all his degrees in full under that Constitution ; and it is 'declared and

—765—

pronounced' — in accordance with the arrangements entered into under the
Act of Union, in 1813, that — 'pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees
and nor more, viz : those of the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, and
the Master Mason, including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch.'

"It has always been held by the Grand Chapter, that the Brethren of
every Lodge have the inalienable right of seeking to have a Royal Arch Chapter
attached to the Lodge, in order to enable them to complete their degrees, if they
wish to do so, and in case of there not being sufficient Royal Arch Chapters
in the neighbourhood.

"The Committee, therefore, feel that under the arrangement entered into
between the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of England, and the Grand
Lodge and Grand Chapter of Canada, they have not only the right, but are
bound to afford to all Lodges and Masons, in Canada, holding under the Grand
Lodge of England, the means of completing, under the English Constitution,
their degrees, if they do not already possess them, by attaching a Chapter to
each Lodge. But it is perfectly clear that, inasmuch as the Grand Master of
England has pledged himself not to grant any new Warrants for Lodges in
Canada, the power of the Grand Chapter of England is limited to those Lodges
already existing in Canada ; and no new Chapter can be granted, excepting in
connection with a Lodge existing prior to the recognition of the Grand Lodge
of Canada by the Grand Lodge of England, at the Quarterly Communication
holden on the 1st December, 1858."

"GRAND CHAPTER OF CANADA,
"OFFICE OF THE GRAND SCRIBE E.

"Hamilton, 28th January, 1862.
Canada Replies

"Wm. Gray Clarke, Esq.,
"Grand Scribe E.

"Dear Sir and R.E. Companion,

"By command of the M.E.Z., I have the pleasure to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of your favor of the 12th November last, conveying the information that
the complaint of the Grand Chapter of Canada, in the matter of the issuing
of a Royal Arch Warrant to certain Royal Arch Masons, and to be attached
to 'Dalhousie' Lodge, No. 835, E.R., at the city of Ottawa, had been re-sub-
mitted to the Grand Chapter of England, at its Quarterly Convocation holden
on the 6th of the same month, when the General Committee had presented
their Report, two copies of which I have received and for which you will
please accept my thanks, and that so much thereof as referred to the Grand
Chapter of Canada was unanimously received and adopted.

"The M.E.Z. regrets that the Supreme Grand Chapter of England has
come to the conclusion to support this irregularly formed Chapter ; it seems
to him it can be mentioned in no milder language, for upon careful examination
of Report he can find no sufficient law or authority expressed as a justifi-
cation for the course pursued

—766—

"The M.E.Z. is prepared to admit and to adopt every word uttered by his
predecessor of the Grand Chapter, as contained in the Report of your Com-
mittee, and even still more, to see, so far as it is in his power, that the con-
ditions of recognition are maintained towards all English Royal Arch Masons
in their fullest integrity, but he is sorry to observe the same feeling with
regard to the rights and privileges of the Grand Chapter of Canada is not
entertained in the Grand Chapter of England.

"The M.E.Z. further desires merely to call the attention of the Supreme
Grand Chapter of England to that which appears most inconsistent in the
Report of the General Committee, upon which in his opinion, the present
difficulty rests. It is stated in the Report that the Grand Chapter of Canada
was recognized in the following words : 'I am instructed to state that, in the
name and on behalf of the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, they, the
Grand Principals, fully recognize the Grand Chapter of Canada, reserving,
however, to all Chapters noiv in Canada, who are still holding Charters under
the Grand Chapter of England, as also to all English Royal Arch Masons, all
their rights, titles, and privileges, as fully and freely as though the Grand
Chapter of Canada had not been formed.'

"It is contended, therefore, that whatever act the Grand Chapter of Eng-
land might have done, and however inconsistent that act might have been
before the recognition of a supreme governing power in Canada, the act of
establishing a Chapter subsequent to such recognition, within the jurisdiction of
that Supreme power, is a clear violation of the rights and privileges of that
Grand Chapter. The reservation made by the Grand Chapter of England is
restricted to the Chapters now in Canada and still holding Charters under
England, (i.e., 10th February, 1860) no mention is made of any future new
Chapters to be formed.

"The following case is perfectly analogous : That, if a Master Mason is de-
barred by the recognition of the Grand Lodge of Canada by the United Grand
Lodge of England from assisting in the formation of a new Lodge, under the
Grand Lodge of England, so a Royal Arch Mason is, in a like manner, debarred
from assisting in the formation of a new Chapter under that jurisdiction. It
seems at present unnecessary to consider the fallacy of the argument advanced
by the Committee, that because under the Act of the Union, in 1813, it is held
that, 'pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees and no more, viz : those
oi the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft, the Master Mason, including the
Holy Royal Arch, therefore a Mason initiated under the Grand Lodge of
England can insist on being allowed to complete his degrees under the same,
or even that admitting that he could so insist on being exalted under the Grand
Chapter of England, it would give him the right, instead of appealing to a
Chapter already established under that jurisdiction, which right cannot be
denied and seems the only right reserved, to choose that a Chapter must
perforce be attached to the very Lodge in which he has been made for the
especial accommodation of those made therein, and which right, if admitted
by the Supreme Grand Chapter of England, apparently deprives them of the
power of refusing a Warrant for a Chapter to any Lodge requiring, nay, de-
manding the same.

—767—

"As above said, it seems at present unnecessary to discuss these points,
but it is as well to remind the Supreme Grand Chapter of England that the
Supreme Grand Chapter of Canada is an independent body, and will, without
considering any action between the Grand Lodges of England and Canada,
insist upon the terms of recognition of this Grand Chapter alone, as hereinbefore
set forth, quite willing to abide by those terms, namely : giving to all Chapters
established in Canada, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Chapter of England,
on the 10th day of February, 1860, all their rights, titles, and privileges, the
same as to all Royal Arch Masons, holding under that jurisdiction. Had the
Supreme Grand Chapter of England considered it expedient and necessary
to reserve the right to attach a Chapter to every Lodge in Canada, working
under the Grand Lodge of England, then at the time of recognition, and then
only, was the proper time to claim such right when it remained open for the
Grand Chapter of Canada to accept or refuse a recognition upon such terms.

"The M.E.Z. further directs me to say that your letter will be submitted
to the consideration of the Grand Chapter at the next Annual Convocation,
to be holden during the present month of February, but that he has no doubt
of the foregoing opinions being fully endorsed, and he can therefore offer no
reasonable expectation for the least change in relation to the position of the
said Chapter at Ottawa. In conclusion, I am to express the hope, seeing that
the Grand Chapter cannot consistently recognize the regularity of this Chapter
at Ottawa, and as, unfortunately, but one resource will be left open ; to de-
clare the said Chapter clandestine ; that the Grand Chapter of England, will,
after careful review of all the circumstances, consent to withdraw the Warrant,
and, by so doing, perpetuate the friendly relations between the two Grand
Bodies, so happily in existence.

"I have the honor to remain,
"Dear Sir and R.E. Companion,

"Your faithful Servant and Companion,

"THOS. B. HARRIS,
"G.S.E., Grand Chapter of Canada.

Thus ends the correspondence v/ith England. There is no reference later
to either of these very important problems in the Proceedings of the Grand
Chapter of Canada. The Supreme Grand Chapter of England did not grant
any warrants for new chapters to be holden within the jurisdictions of the
Grand Chapter of Canada. Either the protest of the Grand Chapter of Canada
was effective or the surrender of lodge warrants under the English Constitution
and their subsequent affiliation with the Grand Lodge of Canada, removed
this controversial question for all time.

About this time St. John's Chapter, Toronto, Scottish Register, (old
No. 4) sent a, petition to the Grand Chapter of Scotland for a new Chapter
to be held in Whitby. The Grand Chapter of Scotland refused the petition.

Subsequently the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and
Wales granted warrants to Mark Lodges in the Province of Quebec. This
action created a controversy in Royal Craft circles that continued for many
years.

—768—

4..— .«—..— ..—.—..— ..—..— .—»—«—.—..—..—«.—«—«—..—.—.—.—..— ..—.—.if

I Ai^^M^^Ma^ai^^aii—^aa^^M*-—..— ^..^^..•••..^^..^^..^^"^^..~— ..■■~..~^..^^..^^..'~^..^^..^^..*~.i.f*

I '

■ ■

m u

1 j No. 42

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

s^s

THE HONOURABLE JONATHAN BELCHER

11 CHIEF JUSTICE OF NOVA SCOTIA

{ 1754 - 1776

j PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER

1 OF NOVA SCOTIA

I 1760 - 1776

■

i by

j j THE HON. MR. JUSTICE JOHN DOULL

1 ' (»%^

i
1

j - Read at the Twenty-Second Meeting of the Association,
' j held at Halifax, N.S., March 28, 1958.

4*" — " — "" — " — " — "' — "" — "" — "" — "" — "" — "" — •" — " — " — "" — "" — "" — " — "" — "" — "' — '" — "•ri

^— •»— M-^..-^..^..^.«— •.«-^.«— .«^.« ..^H^..^..^aa.^aa^aa^aa^a».^M— .aa<^Ra— aa— a«|»

—769—

Honourable Jonathan Belcher

CHIEF JUSTICE OF NOVA SCOTIA, 1754-1776
PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER, 1760-1776

THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE JOHN DOULL
Grand Historian, Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia

Four years ago the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia celebrated the
two hundredth anniversary of its estabhshment in 1754, five years
before Quebec fell. At the opening of the Spring Term for Criminal
Trials at Halifax on May 4, 1954, the opening address to the Grand
Jury made reference to the inauguration of Nova Scotia's first Chief
Justice, the Honourable Jonathan Belcher, and the Halifax Chronicle-
Herald published the address with a photographic reproduction of the
portrait of the Chief Justice which hangs in the western Supreme Court
room.

A more elaborate celebration took place at Sydney at the opening of
the Court in that City on June 15, 1954. On that occasion the presiding
judge, who is the writer of the present article, led a procession from the
Isle Royale Hotel to the Sydney Court House, somewhat in the manner
of the procession which took place in Halifax two hundred years before
at the first opening of the Court by the Chief Justice. The procession in
1754 may have been in some respects more imposing, but the Sydney
procession came from a more modern hotel than the Pontiac Inn, and
it was made up of one Supreme Court Justice, one very distinguished
retired Justice, one County Court judge, and a large number of barristers;
it consisted of a greater judicial and legal array than could have been
gathered in all Canada in 1754.

The Anniversary was also marked by the Nova Scotia Barristers
Society at its Annual Meeting at Celtic Lodge, Ingonish, on June 19th, on
which occasion I had the honour of delivering an address on the life of
the first Chief Justice. This address, with a few changes, was afterwards
read to the Nova Scotia Historical Society on the 21st day of November,
1954.

The present paper deals with Belcher in his capacity of Provincial
Grand Master of Nova Scotia, but a recital of the principal events of his
public life is called for, if only to show the high character and out-
standing achievements of this early Grand Master of the Craft. He was
the successor of Erasmus James Philipps, whose name is still revered in
our Lodges.

—770—

Early Courts and Cases

Jonathan Belcher is rightly styled the first Chief Justice of Nova
Scotia, and the date of his inauguration is referred to as tlie establishment
of the Supreme Court. Some inquiring person may well ask how
some semblance of law and order was maintained in the Province before
that date. There were inhabitants in various parts of the Province,
particularly in Annapolis, and there had been in Halifax inhabitants since
the landing of Cornwallis, in 1749.

The answer to this question is that under the commissions given to
the governors there was authority to the Governor and his Council to
establish courts. The Governors and their Councils did establish courts
which consisted of themselves. They were seldom lawyers, but appear
to have had legal forms and to have acted as judicially as could be
expected.

From 1721 a court of this kind functioned at Annapolis, which before
the founding of Halifax was the seat of government. It was composed
of the Governor and his Council and sat four times a year, on the first
Monday of February, May, August and November. T'he Council also
issued Commissions of the Peace to hear civil causes, the judgments of
such Commissions to be reported to the Governor for confirmation (See
Calnck-Savary History of Annapolis, page 69.)

One of the Annapolis judgments is described in Murdock's History.
The language may sound somewhat unfamiliar but lacks nothing in that
careful precision which should mark judicial pronouncements. Lt. Governor
Armstrong made a complaint against his servant, Robert Nichols, for an
assault committed upon the Lt. -Governor at Canso a year before. Nichols
was found guilty and was sentenced in the following terms:

"You, Robert Nichols, being found guilty of the crime wherewith
thou art charged by the Honourable Lawrence Armstrong, Lieutenant-
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of H. M. Province of Nova Scotia,
the punishment therefor inflicted on thee is to sit upon a gallows
three days, half an hour a day with a rope about thy neck and a
paper on your head where on shall be wrote in capital letters
'Audacious Villain' and afterwards thou art to be whipped at a cart tail
from the prison to the uppermost house on the Cape and from thence
back again to the prison house, receiving each hundred paces five
stripes upon your bare back with a cat o'nine tails, and then thou
art to be turned over for a soldier."

In 1732, in a civil suit at Annapolis, we find a man by the name of
Ross practising as a lawyer. {Murdock, J'ol. 1, page 4H7.) This was prob-
ably the first instance of legal practice in Nova Scotia. Lescarbot, one
of the French officials, was a lawyer but was not a practitioner in
Nova Scotia.

—771 —

*- HON JONATHAN BBLCHER

CHIEF JUSTICE OF NOVA SCOTIA. 1754-76

Provincial Grand Master, 1760-76

—111—

Halifax also had its court, established under the Commission of
Cornwallis. This court consisted of the Governor and his Council. In the
Commission of Cornwallis there was the following authority:

"And we do by these presents give and grant unto you the said
Edward Cornwallis full power and authority with advice and consent
of our said Council to erect, constitute and establish such and so
many Courts of Judicature and public Justice within our said
Province and Dominion as you and they shall think fit and necessary
for the hearing and determining all causes as well Criminal as Civil
according to Law and Equity and for awarding of Execution there-
upon with all reasonable and necessary powers, Authorities fees and
Privileges belonging thereunto as also to appoint and Commissionate
fit persons in the several parts of your Government to administer
the oaths mentioned.

And we do hereby authorize and Impower you to constitute and
appoint Judges, etc. in cases requisite, Commissioners of Oyer and
Terminer, Justices of the Peace and other necessary officers and
ministers in our said Province for the better administration of
Justice and putting the Laws in execution and to administer or
cause to be administered unto them such oath or oaths as are
usually given for the due execution and performance of offices and
places and for the clearing of truth in Judicial Causes."

This Court did not hesitate to deal with most serious crimes and it
was not long after the arrival of Cornwallis that it was required to do so.
In a letter to the Duke of Bedford on the 11th day of September, 1749,
the Governor reports as follows:

"A general Court was held the 31st of August in one of the store-
houses for the trial of one Peter Cartcel for murder; the Saturday
before, he stabbed the Boatswain's mate of "Beaufort," who died on
the spot and wounded two men that endeavoured to seize him. I
enclose an account of the trial having endeavoured to keep as near to
the English Custom as possible."

This trial is described and discussed by Sir Joseph Chisholm in an
article in the Canadian Bar Review, (Vol. XVIII at page 365,) under the
title 'Our First Trial for Murder." It was the first trial for murder
conducted more or less in accordance with English Common Law, held
within what is now the Dominion of Canada. In the opinion of Sir Joseph
Chisholm it lacked a good deal as reviewed by a modern view of fairness.

The indictment followed an ancient form, now obsolete —

"that Peter Cartcel of sd. town of Halifax, settler, not having the fear
of God before his eyes, but moved and seduced by the Instigation of
the Devil on the twenty-sixth day of August and in the twenty-third
year of the reign of sd. Lord the King about five of the clock in the
afternoon of the same 'day at Halifax afforsd. with Force and Arms
in and upon one Abraham Goodsides, mariner in the Peace of God
and of the Lord our King then and there being, made an assault
and most traytorously, feloniously and voluntarily and of malice
forethought, struck and wounded the said Abraham Goodsides at
Halifax afforsd. with a knife the value of twopence, which the said
Peter Cartcel then and there had and held in his hand and feloniously
and of his malice forethought gave the sd. Abraham Goodsides one
mortal wound with the knife afforsd. and upon the left side under

—773—

lays of the Depth of four inches and of the Breadth of one inch, of
which mortal wound the sd. Abraham Goodsides instantly dyed, and
so the said jurors and on their oath say that the said Peter Cartcel
the day and year afforsd. the said Abraham Goodsides in manner
and form afforsd. of malice afforsd. of forethought malice most tray-
torously and voluntarily killed and murdered against the Peace,
Crown and Dignity of our Sovereign the King and contrary to the
statute in that case made and provided. In witness whereof the sd.
jurors have hereunto sett their hands this thirty-first day of August
in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty-nine."

T'he accused was convicted and hanged on the following day. The
trial and punishment were commended by the home authorities, but such
summary punishment in a capital case seems unnecessarily harsh and
does not conform to our modern views of propriety.

The Council also took upon itself the powers of a Divorce Court
and granted at least one divorce at a time when no civil court in England
had such a power. This action was disapproved by the Home Authorities.

On the appointment of Belcher this General Court ceased and the
Supreme Court took its place.

Appointment of Belcher

I return now to the appointment of Jonathan Belcher as Chief

Justice on October 14, 1754, under authority of His Majesty's Mandamus
of July 1, 1754. This Mandamus was in the following words:

"George R.

Trusty and well-beloved we greet you well. Whereas we have
taken into our Royal Consideration the Integrity and Ability of our
Trusty and well beloved Jonathan Belcher, Esquire; we have thought
fit hereby to require and authorize you forthwith to cause Letters
Patent to pass under Our Seal of that our Province of Nova Scotia
or Acadia for constituting and appointing the said Jonathan Belcher,
Esquire, our Chief Justice of and in our said Province. To have,
hold and execute and enjoy the said office unto him the said
Jonathan Belcher for and during our pleasure, and his Residence
within our said Province, together with all and singular the Rights.
Profits and Emoluments unto the said Place belonging in the most
full and ample manner, together with full power and authority to
hold the Supreme Courts of Judicature at such Places and Times
as the same may and ought to be held within our said Province. And
for so doing this shall be your warrant; and so we bid you farewell.

Given at our Court at Kensington this First day of July 1754 in
the 28th year of our Reign.

By His Majesty's Command

(Sgd.) T. Robinson."

It will be noted that the tenure of office of Belcher, as of all judges of
that period, was "during pleasure." Judges of the higher courts are now
appointed "during good behaviour" and those appointed under the authority
of the British North America Act are removable only by a joint address
of the Senate and House of Commons.

—774—

In those days all appointments lapsed on the death of the Sovereign.
A similar mandamus was issued on April 14, 1761, following the accession
of George III. This was signed by William Pitt, the great Earl of
Chatham.

The following is a quotation from Murdock's History describing the
opening of Belcher's first court:

"On Monday, 14 Oct. 'r., Jonathan Belcher, the newly appointed
Chief Justice of the province, was (by H. M. mandamus) sworn in
as a member of the council; after which, the council adjourned
to the court house, where, after proclamation made for silence, the
king's commission, appointing Charles Lawrence, lieutenant governor,
was read in public. He was sworn in, and took the chair. The council
addressed him in congratulation, and he made a suitable reply. A
commission by letters patent for the chief justice was prepared, and
on the 21 October, (monday), it was read in council, and the chief
justice took the usual oaths and oath of office. On the first day of
Michaelmas term, chief justice Belcher walked in a procession from the
governor's house to the Pontac, a tavern. He was accompanied by the
lieutenant governor, Lawrence, the members of the council, and the
gentlemen of the bar in their robes. They were preceded by the
provost marshal, the judge's tipstaff, and other civil officers. At the
long room of the Pontac, an elegant breakfast was provided. The
chief justice in his scarlet robe was' there received and complimented
in the 'politest manner' by a great number of gentlemen and ladies
and officers of the army. Breakfast being over, they proceeded, with
the commission carried before them, to the church, (St. Paul's) where
the reverend Mr. Breynton preached from this text: T am one of them
that are peaceable and faithful in Israel'. A suitable anthem was sung.
After this they proceeded to the court house, handsomely fitted up
for the occasion. The chief justice took his seat under a canopy,
with the lieutenant governor on his right hand. The clerk of the
crown then presented the commission to Mr. Belcher, which he
returned. Proclamation for silence was made. Belcher gave some
directions for the conduct of practitioners. The grand jury were
sworn, and the chief justice delivered his charge to them."

There is a fine painting of Chief Justice Belcher, being a copy of a
painting by the artist John Singleton Copley, in the Supreme Court room
at Halifax. From this portrait we see that the judges of that day were
robed in the same manner as the judges of the King's Bench in England.
They also wore the full bottom wigs still worn there. Chief Justice
Townshend, who wrote on the subject, says that he was unable to as-
certain when judges and barristers in Nova Scotia ceased to wear wigs.
He says, however, that in conversation with Senator Dickey, who began
to practice in 1834, the Senator told him that at that date judges still
wore wigs but barristers did not do so. (Toivnshcnd 19 C.L.T. 144).

There were some lawyers in Nova Scotia before Belcher's arrival,
but his coming opened a new day both by his superior qualifications
and the use which he made of them. We turn to the story of his life up
to the time of his arrival in Nova Scotia.

—775—

Early Life and Family

Jonathan Belcher was born in an atmosphere of public administration.
He was the second son of the Honourable Jonathan Belcher of Boston,
Massachusetts, who was successively Governor of Massachusetts and
New Jersey. The mother of Jonathan, Jr. was Mary Partridge, daughter
of Lieutenant Governor Partridge of New Hampshire. Jonathan Jr. had
the best education of his day. Born in Boston July 23, 1710, he graduated
from Harvard College in 1728. Following his studies at Harvard, he
went to London to study law at the Middle Temple. In January, 1733,
while still at the Temple, the degree of Master of Arts was conferred
on him by Cambridge University and shortly after this date he went to
Ireland to practice his profession. He remained in Ireland for twenty years,
during which he gained experience as an advocate and showed a vigourous
mind and a determined character.

In the Halifax Gazette of June 8, 1754, will be found a despatch from
Boston, quoting a letter received from London dated March 19th an-
nouncing that

"Jonathan Belcher Esq., son of His Excellency Governor Belcher, is
appointed Chief Justice of Nova Scotia, with a salary of Five Hundred
Pounds Sterling per annum, and is expected here (Boston) from
Ireland to embark for that place."

Belcher's education at Harvard and in England and his considerable
experience in the practice of the common law in Ireland mark him as
well fitted for the position to which he was appointed, and in preparation
and experience the equal of any of his distinguished successors. Nor
did his term on the bench detract from his early promise. He was a
man of strong character and at times came into collision with Governor
Lawrence, who was also a man of determination. Nevertheless, he must
have been; of invaluable assistance to the government and the decisions of
the Council were influenced beneficially by his opinions.

The new Chief Justice returned to Boston in 1756 and was married
in King's Chapel, Boston, on April 8th of that year to Abigail, daughter
of Jeremiah Allen and Abigail (Waldo) Allen, who was a sister of
Jeremiah Allen, for some years Sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Belcher was born in 1727 and died October 9, 1771. She was buried
in St. Paul's burying ground. Copies are extant of a sermon preached
in St. Matthew's Church on October 20, 1771, by the Rev. John Seccombe,
M.A., Congregational Minister of Chester, N.S.

"A sermon occasioned by the death of the Honourable Abigail
Belcher, late consort of Jonathan Belcher, Esq., late Lieutenant
Governor and Commander in Chief and His Majesty's present Chief
Justice of his Province of Nova Scotia."

This sermon was printed in Boston with an epistle by the elder Rev.
Mather Byles D.D.

—776—

Five of the children of the Chief Justice died in infancy. T*he oldest
daughter born in 1760, married Timothy jennison, M.D., a physician of
Cambridge, Massachusetts. Andrew, born 1763, was a merchant of Halifax.
He married Mary Anne, daughter of Frederick William and Susanna
(Ingraham) Geyer, whose mansion on Summer Street, Boston, was long
a social centre of that city. Andrew became the Honourable Andrew
Belcher when appointed a member of the Council of Nova Scotia on
June 16, 1801. He had eleven children, of whom Sid Edward Belcher,
K.C.B., Rear Edmiral, R.N., was distinguished for his nautical surveys
on the coast of Africa and in the Arctic seas. Other of these children were
Rev. Andrew Herbert Belcher and Eleanor, who married the Rev. Wm.
Cogswell and later Major John Claude Barmeter of the British Army.

The Belcher residence was on Argyle Street, north of the Methodist
Chapel, and was afterwards owned by Rev. William Black. The building
was removed some fifty or sixty years ago to make room for some
shops and a market building. Belcher also owned a farm at Windsor,
known as "Belvidere Farm."

Lieutenant Governor

On the death of Governor Lawrence in October, 1760, Belcher, as
President of the Council, became for a short time Administrator of the
Government. On the 21st of November, 1760, he was formally sworn
in as Lieutenant Governor, the Governor at that time being Henry Ellis,
formerly Governor of Georgia, who for some reason did not come to the
Province. Belcher held the office of Lieutenant Governor until September
26, 1762, when Colonel the Honourable Montague Wilmot assumed the
office.

This year (1958) marks the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the call-
ing of the first representative Assembly of Nova Scotia, which met at
Halifax on October 2, 1758. This, the first representative Assembly in
any part of what is now Canada, owed its establishment to the legal
knowledge and firmness of character of the Chief Justice.

The Commission of Cornwallis in 1749 authorized the summoning of
"general assemblys of the freeholders and planters within your govern-
ment according to the usage of the rest of Our Colonies and plantations in
America." The Governor was reluctant to carry out this part of his in-
structions, for the sparse and scattered character of the settlement did
not easily lend itself to the selection of representatives. The first Governors
were quite content to hold all the powers of government in their own
hands. Belcher, however, gave his opinion that the Governor and his
Council had no right to levy taxes without the consent of a general as-
sembly. T*his view was opposed by Governor Lawrence and other members
of his Council, but it was finally agreed to refer the matter to the Home
authorities. These authorities upheld Belcher's opinion and directions were
given to summon an assembly. Belcher undertook the task and prepared

—777—

the necessary scheme. This was the first great poHtical achievement. It,
no doubt, had an effect in holding Nova Scotia in its allegiance to the
Crown, when the greater number of the American colonies formed an-
other union a few years later.

Belcher's hand is plainly visible in the early legislation. As a member
of the Council, all legislation came before him and he, no doubt, super-
vised the enactments. These early Acts were all of a sound, necessary and
useful character. It was a great advantage to the Province that its first
legislation should have passed under the hands of such an experienced
and well trained lawyer. Moreover, Belcher arranged and revised the
laws in 1767 and published them with copious notes. Reference is made to
this work in the consolidation of Nova Scotia Statutes published by
R. J. Uniacke in 1805 under the title "Statutes at Large."

First Legislature

The first Assembly which met in 1758 consisted of 19 members.
They met in the Court House and were sworn into office. The Governor,
his Council and the Assembly constituted the Legislature of the Province.
From that time the constitution of the courts of Nova Scotia may be
found in the statutes. Reference may be made to Uniacke's "Statutes at
Large."

One of the early Acts passed by the Assembly was 32 George II

Ch. 27, "An Act for Confirming the Past Proceedings of Courts of

Judicature and for regulating the further proceedings of the same." It
was enacted.

"That His Majesty's Supreme Court, Court of Assize and General
Gaol Delivery shall be held and kept at the usual times and places
(that is to say) on the last Tuesday in the month of October and on
the last Tuesday in the month of April in every year in the town of
Halifax and that a Court of General Sessions of the Peace be held
quarterly as usual, in every year in, as usual, in the said
town, that is to say, on the first Tuesday in the months of
December, March, June and September and that the Inferior Court
of Common Pleas be held as usual on the first Tuesday in the said
months of December, March, June and September."

Lhitil 1763 there was only one "judge of the Supreme Court." In that
year the Assembly represented to the Council the advisability of appoint-
ing two additional judges. The Assembl}' expressed their reasons as
follows:

"As it is conceived that His Majesty's subjects ought not to rest
satisfied with the judgment of one person only, and further that so
important a court should not consist of one man, however capable
and upright."

In the following year two assistant judges were appointed in the persons
of Honourable John Collier and Honourable Charles Morris.

—778—

Collier was a retired army officer about whom little is known. He
was not a lawyer. Morris was a land surveyor and not a lawyer but he
was afterwards Chief Justice. In comparison with the Chief Justice,
these two assistants judges were greatly inferior in legal education and
training and for some years it was required that all the judges be present
when the Couit sat. An Act of 1774 (14 & 15 Geo. Ill, Ch. 6) provided
that two of the judges should be sufficient. Apparently the Chief Justice
was required to be one of them. These early Acts and regulations were
largely the work of the Chief Justice who not unnaturally doubted the
ability of the other judges to decide matters without his supervision.

Masonic Services '

To turn from Belcher's public life to his Masonic service, we find
no record of when or where he was made a Mason. The first mention
w€ have of him in a Masonic capacity is as the successor in 1760 of
Erasmus James Philipps, as Provincial Grand Master, an honour which
must have been conferred by election in the Provincial Grand Lodge in
1760. This distinction he held until his death in. 1776. His name is men-
tion as P.G.M. (Provincial Grand Master) and member of Lodge No. 1
(the Provincial Grand Lodge) in the list of subscribers to the first
edition of Calcott's "Disquisitions on Masonry" published in 1769. It is
probable that he was also a member of the First lodge founded by
Cornwallis in 1750 and later a member of its successor, No. 4, to which
all the petitioners for the Grand Lodge belonged (now represented by
St. Andrew's Lodge No. 1) Belcher's father, the Governor of Massachu-
setts, writing in 1741, stated that he had been made a Mason thirty-seven
years before, that is, in 1704. His son Andrew, the eldest brother of the
Chief Justice, was made a Mason in Boston prior to 1733 and was
D.G.M. for Henry Price, Provincial Grand Master, and a charter
member. As the Chief Justice lived in Ireland for some twenty years
from the time when he was about twenty-four years of age, it is
probable that he was made a Mason in that country.

During his term of office as Grand Master, there were five subordinate
lodges on the roll of the Grand Lodge, Nos. 2, 3, and 4 (originally forming
the First Lodge) and Nos. 5 and 6 held in the 59th and 64th Regiments.

His portrait was painted by the noted American artist John Single-
ton Copley (1737-1816) and a copy of it hangs in the Court of Appeal,
Law Courts, Halifax.

His Character

Those who have written of the first Chief Justice have been un-
animous in attributing to him the high qualities of head and heart which
make a great judge and administrator Sir Charles T'ownshend writes:

"A man of strong will, of pure and elevated character, who devoted
himself to the land of his adoption with zeal and energy. To his great
learning and his determination we are largely, perhaps chiefly, in-
debted for our constitutional rights and for the law and order which
have prevailed in Nova Scotia from the first."

—779—

He was indeed a man of strong will. If he had not been such, there
would have been no representative Assembly in Nova Scotia in 1758.
The Governor did not wish an Assembly. It was argued that it was
impossible to constitute such a body. Yet the Chief Justice carried the
matter to the London authorities who directed that an Assembly be
called. The difficulties were solved, no doubt largely through his efforts.

Belcher died March 29, 1776, at Halifax and is buried in a tomb
under St. Paul's Church.

Nova Scotia this year celebrates the two hundredth anniversary of the
establishment of a representative assembly. It was a weak thing at first
but the marvel is that it came to life at all, under all the circumstances
of time and place. That it did come then and there was largely owing
to the ability and strong will of Belcher, whose memory should not be
forgotten in the changes that have occurred.

And we as Masons may drop a sprig of acacia, mentally if not
physically, upon the grave of our second Grand Master, as a token that
we have not forgotten his achievements.

Authorities :

Jonathan Belcher, by Sir Charles Townshend, N. S. Hist. Society, Vol.
XIII.

Hist. Account of the Courts of Judicature in Nova Scotia, Sir Charles
Townshend, Can. Law Times (1900) Vol. 19, p. 142.

Hist, of Nova Scotia, Beamish Murdock, Vol. 2, p. 250.

Hist, of Nova Scotia by T. C. HaHburton, Vol. 1, p. 164.

N. S. Archives, by T. C. Akins.

Hist, of Halifax, by Rev. A. W. Eaton in "Americana" 1916-17.

Beginnings of Freemasonry in Canada, by R. V. Harris.

—780—

tjr:rnrr:::rirr:r:rri^

}

I No. 44

P CANADIAN

■
■

■

1
I

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

©^^^

FREEMASONRY IN OLD CANADA
AND THE WAR OF 1812-15

BY W. BRO. JOHN E. TAYLOR

(2/^y0

Read at the 23rd meeting of the Association

- : I

! held at Toronto May 13, 1958

■

—781—

—782—

Freemasonry in Old Canada and the

1812 War

by John E. Taylor

Canada is still a vast country as far as distances by road are concerned,
and in the days following the capture of Quebec when outposts were few and
far between, distances must have appeared almost insurmountable. The dis-
tance, on the attached map^ as the crow flies, between Montreal
and Fort Michillimackinac is about 700 miles ; Mackinaw, as the latter place
is known to-day, Was the most westerly military station. Voyageurs had
travelled as far west as Sault Ste. Marie where a Jesuit mission had been
established as early as 1761, but it was no more than a trading post. The
purpose of the map is to denote the places where the various battles of the
1812 war were fought, but it also serves another purpose and one of far
more importance to this paper. It gives the name of every large settlement
through which travellers would have to pass and where shelter was to be
iound, where supplies and news were to be picked up, and where the settlers
established the first Masonic lodges in the country then known as Canada. The
area thus known was captured in 1759 and under the Quebec Act the boun-
daries were extended westward to the Mississippi and southward to the Ohio.
In 1791 the country was divided into Upper and Lower Canada, and this Act
went into effect on December 26th, 1791. Travel was of necessity by water
as the land was densely forested and made progress by foot difficult, and the
early settlers who sought to make a living off the country were necessarily
of a hardy and resourceful character. Those who travelled in search of furs
covered great distances often under circumstances of incredible hardship.

£arly Freemasonry

The same hardy pioneers carried the banner of Freemasonry across the
North American continent, a lodge warranted by the Provincial Grand Lodge
of Quebec being opened at Fort Michillimackinac as early as 1782. This Grand
]>odge derived its authority from the Grand Lodge of England ("Moderns").

It warranted the following lodges in Upper Canada : —

No. 11 St. John's Lodge of Friendship, Niagara 1780

(amalgamated with No. 19)

No. 14 St. James Lodge, Cataraqui May 12, 1781

(lapsed 1787)

No. 15 St. John's Lodge, Mackinaw 1782

No. 19 St. John's Lodge, Niagara 1787

No. 21 Union Lodge, Cornwall 1790

(in existence in 1799)

There was also Rawdon Lodge which derived its warrant direct from
London in 1792.

1 Map copied from 'Ten Years of Upper Canada in Peace and War' 1805-15 M. Edgar,
published in 1890 and with the permission of the Publisher, William Briggs.

—783—

The Grand Lodge of England "Ancients"

In that year William Jarvis was appointed Provincial Grand Master of
Upper Canada by the Athol Grand Lodge of England, but the first notice of a
meeting of this Provincial Grand Lodge at Newark is dated July 1795, In the
course of its career, which ceased to be active after 1804, this Grand Lodge
worked, with the following lodges which it constituted : —

Date of

Date

No.

Warrant

Constitution

Name

Location

1794

April 6,

1796

Provincial Grand
Master's Lodge

Newark
Niagara (1800)

2
3

1794

Nov. 20,

1795
1793

St. John's Lodge

of Friendship
Queen's Rangers

Queenston

1st. American Regiment York

April 6,

1796

Lodge of Philanthropy

Newark

Oct. 30,

1792

Royal Edward or
Prince Edward

New Johnston
Edwardsburg

1794

Nov. 20,

1795

Kingston

1797

St. James' Lodge

Bay of Quinte
Fredericksburg

1797

Harmony

York

1797

Bertie (Continuation
of Lodge No. 5, 1794)

Fort Erie

Nov. 20.

1795

Barton

Ancaster
Barton

Feb. 12,

1798

Mohawk Castle
Burford (1802)

1797

1798

Lodge of Friendship

Stamford

1799

June 11,

1804

Leeds

Elizabeth town
New Johnston

Il-

1799

Howard

Southwold

Nov. 20,

1799

Grimsby

May 24
1800

June 20,

1801

St. John's Royal Arch
Royal Arch

York

1801

Mar. 10,
Mar. 10,

1801
1802

Thurlow

1801

Adonhiram

Amherstburg

Oct. 4,

1801

St. John's

Haldin^and

:ji Copies of Minute Books existing.

This brings the list up to 1804, and at this time Lodge No. 3 had returned its
warrant. After this date any subsequent lodge warrants were granted by the
Schismatic Grand Lodge at Newark which was active from 1803 to the con-
ciliation by Simon McGillivray in 1822.

No mention has been made of Zion Lodge, Detroit. Zion Lodge only enters
the purview of this paper because Detroit was the scene of the first battle of
the war in 1812. Copies of the first five minute books of Zion Lodge are in
the library of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario at
Toronto. The United States governor of Michigan was a Past Master of this

—784—

Lodge, and there will be a reference to both Zion Lodge and to General Hull
farther on in this paper when the military aspect is touched on.

Rawdon Lodge is also only referred to briefly: it was numbered 498 in
the Grand Registry of England, and functioned from May 1793 to 1800, as is
evidenced from a record in which extracts only of this lodge are quoted. In
May 1800, the Prince's or Modern's warrant was surrendered and the Lodge
became known as Royal Arch Lodge No. 16. The extracts continue erratically
up to 1819, and are chiefly of note as providing evidence of the working of
the Royal Arch as early as 1811.

Zion Lodge, Detroit, ought to be the subject of a separate paper, A 'Second
Lodge at Detroit in Canada' apparently was warranted in 1778 by New York.
Both lodges seem to have passed out of existence by 1790. It is also very
difficult to trace the early history of the present oldest lodge in the Ontario
jurisdiction, Niagara No. 2, Niagara-on-the-Lake, but the existence of a copy
of the Minute Book of St. John's Lodge of Friendship, No. 2 which met at
Queenston and at St. Davids from 1795 to 1819, suggests the formation of at
least one other St. John's Lodge of which there is no trace. There are names
of visitors in the minutes of St. John's Lodge of Friendship giving St. John's
as their mother lodge. This is the picture of civilian Freemasonry up to the
year 1812, "with the Provincial Grand Lodge of Lower Canada with its Grand
East in the City of Quebec," theinoperative but authentic Grand Lodge with
its seat at York and a very active but schismatic Grand Lodge operating at
Newark, now Niagara-on-the-Lake, the seat of the legal Grand Lodge before
it was moved to York.

The Coming War

To this domestic picture there should be added the role the North
American continent was destined to play in the international game between
England and France, Pitt and Napoleon. It has long since been a boast of
North America that the border between Canada and the United States of
America has enjoyed an unbroken period of peace for one hundred and
forty odd years. The first of two occasions when there were hostilities cul-
minated in the 1812 war which began with the capture of Detroit in August
1812 and ended with the Battle of Plattsburg in September 1814. This brief
but bitter contest had its origin primarily in the restrictions placed on the
United States by the principal opponents in the Napoleonic wars. Great Britain
and France. As has been well said by William Wood in 'The War with the
United States' : — "International disputes that end in war are not so generally
questions of opposing rights and wrongs. They may quite as well be questions
of opposing rights. But, when there are rights on both sides, it is usually found
that the side which takes the initiative is moved by its national desires as well
as its claim or right." In the Napoleonic wars the Emperor was fighting for
the conquest of Europe, the British for life and liberty. The United States
was a nation of eight million people. The population of Upper Canada against
whom the Americans were to vent their wrath was less than one hundred

—785-

thousand. Napoleon's Berlin Edict was aimed against all British trade while
the British Orders-In-Council were directed against any trade between
Napoleon and his allies, unless the merchandise passed through British ports.
Since England held control of the seas it was inevitable that the ire of the
Americans should be vented against the British who were seizing more ships
for infringements of Orders-in-Council than the French were able to do in
enforcing their edict. The British were also vigorously enforcing their Right
of Search under which all neutral merchant vessels wherever found at sea
were stopped and examined for the presence of deserters from the Royal Navy.
Under ordinary circumstances this question might have been settled over a
conference table, but with two great nations at each other's throats such a
procedure was impossible. Added to these there was a strong anti-British
feeling in America, a feeling which found expression in a desire to capture
Canada. The Jefferson government in power at this time was definitely anti-
British, but also at the same time it was in favour of supporting a free trade
always providing that the Government did not have to keep too many ships
at sea to do so. Jefferson and his Democrats Were also handicapped by being
strongly political and thus had many political opponents. The U.S. President
carefully avoided anything to do with armies, navies, and as mentioned above,
the merchant marine. The anti-British feeling fostered and grew, and the
spark which probably set off the blaze was the old desire initiated as far back
as 1689 when the French owned Canada, to oust all foreign powers from
North America, Madison, the new U.S. President, declared war against Great
Britain in 1812, fired by all the causes real or imaginary, and he was con-
vinced that American arms could not fail against such a small country as
Canada with so small a population.

Madison had badly misjudged the temper of the Canadian people, and par-
ticularly that of the United Empire Loyalists who had given up during the
years 1775 to 1783 all they had owned in the U.S.A. in order to live and work
under the British flag.

The British Forces

The advent of war forced the British Government to practically create
an army in North America because at the outbreak there was only the fourth
Battalion of the Royal Artillery and six regiments of line in Canadian military
stations. The following extract from 'The War with the United States' by
William Wood accurately describes the military situation. "The British Army,
like the Navy, had to maintain an exacting world wide service, besides large
contingents in the field, on resources which had been severely strained by
twenty years of war. It was represented in Canada by only a little over four
thousand effective men when the War began. Re-inforcements at first came
slowly and in small numbers. In 1813 some foreign corps in British pay, like
the Wattville and Meuron Regiments came out. But in 1814 more than sixteen
thousand men, mostly Peninsular veterans, arrived. Altogether, including
every man present in any part of Canada during the whole war, there were
over twenty-five thousand British regulars. In addition to these there were

—786-

the troops invading the United States at Washington and Baltimore, with
the re-inforcements that joined them for the attack on New Orleans — in all
nearly nine thousand men. The grand total within the theatre of war was
therefore about thirty-four thousand.

The Canadian Regulars The Canadian Regulars were about four thou-
sand strong. Another two thousand took the place of men who were lost to the
service, making the total six thousand, from first to last. There were six corps
raised for permanent service: The Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the New
Brunswick Regiment, the Canadian Fencibles, the Royal Veterans, the Canadian
Voltigeurs and the Glengarry Light Infantry. The Glengarries were mostly
Highland Roman Catholics who had settled Glengarry county on the Ottawa
where Ontario marches on Quebec. The Voltigeurs were French-Canadians
under a French-Canadian officer in the Imperial army. In the other corps
there were many United Empire Loyalists from the different provinces, in-
cluding a good stiffening of old soldiers and their sons. The sixteen thousand
Peninsular Veterans consisted of one cavalry unit and eighteen infantry bat-
talions, and at the end of the conflict in 1815, eighteen British and Foreign
battalions had returned to duty in England and elsewhere.

Masonic Lodges

It was not unusual for one or more Masonic lodges to accompany their
regiments into the field, and the following regiments appear to have had active
lodges attached to them during this period. (Completed from R. F. Gould,
Vol. 3, p. 396)

Regiment

4th

Bn. Artillery

1st

Regiment

5th

8th

13th

16th

27th

39th

49th

58th

76th

89th

90th

100th

Lodge

No.

213

(A)

1781-

x 289

S.R.

1808-1852

X 86

I.R.

1738-1815

255

(E)

1755-1813

661

I.R.

1787-1819

293

I.R.

1758-1817

528

I.R.

1787-1815

290

I.R.

1758-1813

354

I.R.

1760-1849

466

I.R.

1769-1817

248

(A)

1788-1828

863

I.R.

1798-1818

8 Gib. 1803-

3 Gib. 1804-

Several regiments must have had members of the Craft within their ranks,
as their lodges appear to have been inoperative in 1812. These were the 3rd.
9th and 70th. regiments. And the 6th. foot, 57th., 82nd. regiments are not
shown as being actively operating insofar as Freemasonry was concerned.
It is more than probable that the method of breaking up the regiments into
detachments to engage them to the best strategical advantage would not be
very conducive to the meeting of lodges as a whole.

—787—

Further, as all men were in the army, the complete cessation of the
civilian lodges in Upper Canada is most marked. The minutes of Lodge No. 13
County of Leeds extant to this day indicate that there were no meetings be-
tween March 1812 and January 1817. The Barton Lodge No. 10 held no
meetings from 1810 to 1814. Stamford Lodge No, 12 met up to July 23rd,
1812, and the next entry is a set of by-laws dated June 15th, 1815. Hiram
Lodge No. 21 P.R. records minutes to July 25rd, 1812, and July 22nd, 1813,
when the Lodge continued to meet regularly, but in none of these Lodges
mentioned is the war given as the cause of their ceasing to meet.

Union Lodge No. 15 P.R. Grimsby, a town in the centre of the theatre
of war held no meetings between September 26, 1812, and April 11th, 1816.
The following story relates to their Lodge chest.

The meeting of the lodge, on 26th September, 1812, was the last that
was held during the three years' war. The "lodge was closed in perfect har-
mony at nine o'clock" and did not re-open until the 11th April, 1816, when
it met at the house of Bro. Samuel Kitchen. It was resolved to continue to
meet at Bro. Kitchen's, and also that "a number of notes, remaining in the
hands of the Treasurer, against some of the brethren deceased, shall be de-
stroyed." The house was on lot 3 of concession 2 of Grimsby.

During the war of 1812, the jewels, warrants and the books were hidden
in a log house owned by Bro. Kitchen, which stood on the east side of the
lot. The keeping place was an old wooden trunk or box, and every few months
Mrs. Kitchen, who was a great admirer of the Craft, examined her charge,
saw that the jewels were kept polished and that the other valuables were in
good condition. She often told the story of the hiding of the jewels to Mrs.
Forbes, her daughter, now the wife of R. W. Bro. Forbes, of Grimsby, who
still has the trunk. (Robertson, Vol. 1, p. 753)

Barton Lodge ceased to operate in 1910, but the following story is of
interest.

"On the morning of the memorable day on which the battle of Stoney
Creek was fought, the small British army, consisting of three or four regi-
ments of regulars and some Canadian militia, was drawn up near Brother
Land's house, hourly expecting an attack from the much larger force of
Americans approaching from the direction of the frontier. The fences and
other obstacles had been removed to facilitate the movements of the troops,
and the inhabitants had evacuated their houses, expecting to find them on
their return either in ashes or riddled by shot and shell. Before quitting their
home, the wife and young sons of Brother Land (he being at his post in the
line of defense) carried the jewels, records and valuables of the lodge, to-
gether with some of their own household treasures to the garden and there
buried them, planting a flower above them to mark the spot. The exact place
where the flower stood was pointed out to the writer in 1862 by Stephen
Land, son of Brother Ephraim Land. The enemy, not making such rapid

—788—

progress as had been expected, was surprised during the ensuing night at
Stoney Creek and thoroughly routed. The next day the members of Brother
Land's family returned to their homes and to their great joy found their
treasures undisturbed." (Barton Lodge, 100 years, p. 104.5)

The Kingston Gazette, the only newspaper published in the Province
during the war years, carried the two following extracts : —

Dec. 12th. "Notice is hereby given to all masonic societies that Elijah
Ketchum a member of St. John's lodge Haldimand (U.C.) is suspended
that Lodge until he can clear an obligation against him of having
behaved in a very disrespectful manner towards a worthy family in
their Province."-

By Order of the W.M. of St. John's Lodge
John Peters Secretary

Haldimand 20th Aug. 1812.

The lapse of time between the date of issue and the date of printing is
curiously long, and the following notice shows that the members tried to
maintain their social activities in spite of war.

"The Brethren of Lodge No. 6 Ancient York Masons, propose dining
together at the Kingston Hotel on Monday the 28th. instant. Any
brother wishing to favour them with his company will please signify
the same to Mr. Walker on or before the 25th instant. By order of
the W.M."

Alex. Oliphant Petrie, Sect'y Kingston 17th Dec. 1812.

(Early Freemasonry in Canada, by J. J. Talman)

The Minutes of Zion Lodge No. 10 Detroit show the following items in :

1812 July 6th. North Western Army under General Hull reached
Detroit yesterday.

Sept. 9th. Detroit in possession of his Britannic Majesty.

Sept. 12th. Lodge closed and jewels stored to September 1813.

General Hull who surrendered Detroit to General Brock had paid many
visits to Zion Lodge from 1807 on. Zion Lodge had been ruled by the Grand
Lodge of New York since 1807, and by this Grand Lodge's laws the charter
had been forfeited for failure to meet in one year.

St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2

The most interesting record of meetings is taken from the Minute Book
of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2 Queenston. This lodge met at irregular
intervals during the winter months of 1813 when there was a cessation of
fighting and is the only minute book which not only comments that no regular
meetings were held because of war, but on January 17th, 1815, held a Lodge
of Emergency to Initiate pass and raise a number of gentlemen from the Marine
Artillery. A painting of the lodge room of Lodge No. 2 Niagara Township at
St. Davids used during the period 1802-1822 hangs in the office of the Masonic
Temple 888 Yonge St., Toronto.

—789—

June 26th, 1812, Lodge called from labour to refreshment at 10 o'clock.
Lodge called from refreshment to labour at 11 o'clock and closed in good
harmony.

St. Davids, 22nd Sept. 1812.

Regular Lodge night St. John's Lodge met at Bro. Brown's Tavern. Lodge
opened in the Master's degree when the following brethren were present at 8
o'clock.

Rt. W. Bro. C. Danby Master

Bro. M. Carron S.W.
Bro. J. Lutz J.W.P.T.

Bro. A. Stevens Secty.

Read the Minutes of last Lodge night which were unanimously confirmed.

The lodge not being opened the last two regular nights was owing to the
declaration of War and want of members.

Lodge closed in good harmony at 9 o'clock.
St. Davids, February 5th, 1813.

Regular Lodge night of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2 opened in
the entered apprentice degree at 8 o'clock when the following brethren were
present.

W. Master

S. Warden

J. Warden

Junior Deacon

Quick No. 12

Proceeded to pass Bro. Forsythe to the degree of a Fellow Craft. Called
from labour to refreshment at 9 o'clock. Called from refreshment to labour
at 12 o'clock when Bro. Forsythe pade three dollars for being passed to the
degree of a Fellow Craft which was pade into the hands of the Worshipful
Master Brother Danby the secretary having the minutes of last lodge night
with him they could not be confirmed from Bro. Danby the lodge could not
meet before this time for war the lodge closed in good harmony July 9th, 1813.

Regular lodge night St. John's Lodge No. 2 opened in the Master's degree
at 8 o'clock when the following brethren was present :

Bro. Danby, W. Master
Bro. Mathew Carron, Senior Warden
Bro. J. P. Clement Jr., ditto P.T.
Bro. Lutz, Sect. P.T. No. 12

Read the minutes of last Lodge night which was unanimously confirmed
the reason why the Lodge did not meet since the 5th February. St. Davids
was the headquarters for the troops. The lodge closed in good harmony.

Bro.

Danby

Bro.

Carron

Bro.

Smith

Bro.

Smith

Solomon

—790—

These are the minutes covering the regular meetings of Lodge No. 2
which were held whenever possible during the war, with Christopher Danby
in the chair. R.W. Brother Danby was one of the enthusiastic Masons who
had previously been a leading figure with Jarvis in 1792, having been a member
of Lodge No. 4 Ancients, from 1788-1792. This Lodge is now No. 7 G.R.E.
England; he had been Grand Senior Warden in 1796 and 1797 of the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Upper Canada. In the irregular Grand Lodge Danby con-
tinued to be active and was Provincial Deputy Grand Master from 1803 to
1819. He joined St. John's Lodge of Friendship in 1799 and was Worshipful
Master in 1800. The next recorded meeting of Lodge No. 2 was held when
the war was over 'and reports an emergent meeting held in the middle of
winter to confer degrees on some soldiers before they departed from Canada.

January 17th, 1815, Lodge of Emergency at Bro. Quick's St. Davids
called by R.W.D.G. Christopher Danby at the request of Bro. Slater
of Lodge No. 4 Upper Canada and Brother Crosley No. 230 Past
Master and Brother Patterson of Lodge No. 243 past master both of
the English Establishment praying the Deputy Grand Master to exert
his authority and grant a dispensation for the enter the following
gentlemen of the Marine Artillery into the three degrees of Ancient
York Masonry Vis. Samuel Hutton, Sargeant Edward Applegarth
ditto Hugh Eraser, Cap. Wm. Lee, Sargeant Applegarth, William J.
Frankling drummer in ditto. George Hamilton of the Royal Artillery
when the following brethren were present :

Rt. Worshipful C. Danby W. Master

Bro. Barnes Senior Warden

Bro. C. J. Crysler Jr. ditto

Bro. Josiah Brown S.D. No. 4 P.T.

Bro. B. Maconagh J.D. P.T. No. 12

Bro. Colony Secty P.T,

Bro. Master Treasurer No. 4 P.T.

Bro. Wolverston No. 15 P.M.

Bro. Johnston No. 123 Irish Establishment

Bro. McMarney 605 I ditto P.M.

Bro. McDonnell 562 I ditto P.M.

Bro. Burney No. 651 I ditto P.M.

Bro. Brisland 553 I ditto P.M.

Bro. McBurney 651 I ditto P.M.

Bro. Behervy 316 I ditto P.M.

Bro. Crossley 230 English ditto P.M.

Bro. Patterson 243 English ditto P.M.

Bro. Quick No. 12

—791—

Lodge entered at 12 o'clock and proceeded to enter the above petitioners
Samuel Hutton Edward Applegarth &c. Lodge called from labour to re-
freshment at 4 o'clock. Called from refreshment at 5 o'clock when the above
brethren pade their eneation fees into the hands of the Deputy Grand Master.
The Lodge closed in good harmony.

From a later Minute the names of the initiated brethren were William
Hutton, William Frankling, William Lee, George Hamilton, Edward Apple-
garth and Hugh Eraser.

Disbursements by the Deputy Grand Master

Jan. '78 Bros. Slater ditto Patterson and Crossley applied for a dis-
pensation for the gentlemen of the Royal Marine Artillery

to 2 qts. of spirits 16.00

Lining for Aprons and tape for strongs 2.

17th to Spirits 1.12.0

18th to ditto 16.00

24th to ditto 1.12.

Feb. 18

to ribbon and sealing wax and ceal

for certificates 16.

To pade Bro. Freckleek for tying 16.

To a quart of spirits 16.

Pade Bro. Quick for candles and the use of

room for seven nights 3.10.

For a bottle of ink 4.

Pade the register fee to the Grand Lodge 5.12.

when the Brethren of the Royal Marine Artillery withdrew with
certificates.

This is one of the most interesting and complete minutes which has been
extracted from any of the minute books of old lodges existing in the Grand
Lodge Library in Toronto. The Grand Lodge of Ireland instituted a search
for the Irish brethren named in the minute in the hope that some direct lead
to a warrant in some British Regiment might show, but the search was
unsuccessful.

The prosecution of the war is no part of this paper, and it is unfortunate
that it has not been possible to trace any activities of the regimental lodges
which must have accompanied the regiments to Canada, but it may be of
interest to list the battles which were fought in the campaigns to show the
wide dispersion of the troops along the frontier, a distance of six hundred
miles. It will be noted that eleven of the twenty-five naval and military battles
were fought in the vital and prosperous Niagara district.

—792-

1812 July

Michililmackinac

Aug.

Detroit

Oct.

Queenston

1813 Jan.

Frenchtown

Ogdensburg

Apr.

York

May

Fort George

Sackett's Harbour

J une

Stoney Creek

Beaver's Dam

Aug.

Fort Stephenson

Sept.

' Lake Erie

Oct.

The Thames

Chateauguay

Nov.

Chrystler's Farm

Dec.

Fort Niagara

Black Rock

1814 Mar.

Lacolle

May

Oswego

July

Fort Erie

Chippawa

Lundy's Lane

Aug.

Michilimackinac

Fort Erie

Sept.

Plattsburg

Date Battle Won By

British
do
do
do
do

Americans
do

do (Naval)
British
do

Americans
do (Naval)
do
British
do
do
do
do
do

Americans

British

Americans
do

The most famous and decisive battle of all these was the Battle of Queen-
ston Heights at which Major-General Brock was killed, and the list of mour-
ners included the name of Dr. Kerr of the Militia; Dr. Kerr was initiated
in St. Andrew's Lodge No. 6 P.G.L. of Quebec on December 12th, 1776, as
appears from Bro. Milborne's paper on "The Masonic Lodge in the 78th
Regiment." He subsequently became a member of Barry Lodge No. 17 P.G.L.
Quebec, prior to his move to Newark where he was with the Indian Depart-
ment of Upper Canada. He became prominent in the Provincial Grand Lodge
and ultimately became Deputy Provincial Grand Master of the schismatic
Grand Lodge of Newark which appeared there up to 1817.

A copy of the Order of the Day, October 16th is preserved giving the
arrangement for the Funeral of Major-General Brock and of his A.D.C. Lt.
Col. McDonell. Brother Robert Addison, Rector of St. Marks Church, Newark
conducted the funeral service. Bro. Addison was Grand Chaplain of the Pro-
vincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada from 1798, being the first Chaplain, and
was subsequently and at the same time grand Chaplain of the Irregular Grand
Lodge from 1810 to 1822. (Annals of Niagara by Kirby). In most cases it is

impossible to single out outstanding Masons who were also good soldiers, but
one exception is that of Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon, adjutant of the 49th.
Brock's old regiment. He was in quarters at Decew House near St. Catharines
when he was brought information of enemy troop movements by Laura Secord,
the wife of a wounded soldier, James Secord, a captain in the 2nd Bn. Lincoln
Militia and a member of St. John's Lodge of Friendship, and as a result,
he was able to post his troops near a place called Beaver's Dam where he
inflicted a defeat on the Americans.

—793—

The following is a note on his military career : —

"Lieut. Fitzgibbon, Adjutant of the 49th., enlisted as a private soldier
in 1798, and was soon promoted to sergeant: served in Holland, was
drafted as a marine on board Nelson's squadron, fought at the Battle
of Copenhagen, won his commission on merit. After the Battle of
Stoney Creek, he obtained permission to organize an independent
company of picked men, to act as rangers or scouts in order to harass
the enemy in advance of the army. Lieutenant Fitzgibbon distinguished
himself at Fort George, Stoney Creek, Fort Erie and especially at
Beaver's Dam. After the war ended he became Colonel of the 1st.
Regiment of Toronto Militia and Assistant Adjutant-General of the
Militia of Upper Canada. He ended his long career in England as a
Military Knight of Windsor". (Ten Years of Peace and War in Upper
Canada, by M. Edgar).

John Ross Robertson's History has a very complete chapter — No. XHl
in volume H on this brother, with a copy of a painting of Colonel Fitzgibbon
in the uniform of a Military Knight. It is stated in this chapter that Fitzgibbon
was a member of Lodge No. 12 Stamford, but a careful examination of a
copy of a minute book of this lodge covering the whole of the war period
fails to show his name either as a member or as a visitor. He had been made
a mason in lodge No. 40, A.Y.M., Quebec in 1803 and on the re-organization
of the Upper Canada Lodges in 1822 was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand
Master by Simon McGillivray. It is impossible to say when if ever he ruled
a lodge but there was a lodge in the 49th Regiment, and it is quite possible
that here he became Worshipful Master. The fortunes of war favoured the
Americans as their military potential, quoted earlier in this paper, was a large,
albeit untrained army chosen from a population of eight millions, whereas the
population of Canada in 1812 was 400,000, of which about one quarter lived
in Upper Canada. However, a great number of those serving in the Canadian
forces were old soldiers, Veterans of the Peninsula War, who had taken up
land in Upper Canada and they were stiffened by a British garrison drawn
from the regular army. These were strongly re-inforced in 1814 by the arrival
of sixteen thousand experienced troops, mostly peninsular veterans. The Cana-
dians won the day in that the invading forces were repulsed and failed in
their objective; the conquest of Canada. The American Navy won the only
two naval battles, but the American forces were left victor on the field in
only eight of the twenty-three engagements, and the most decisive of these
were the first three at Mackinaw, Detroit and Queenston, at each of which
the initiative was taken by the British troops and the weaknesses of the
opponent exposed. The failure of the British troops lay not in the fighting
ability of the army in the field, but in the failure of the General Staff to
exploit the advantages won in the field, and the war might have ended sooner
than it did if the advice of General Brock had been acceped by Sir George
Prevost, Commander-in-chief at Montreal. He was finally recalled to England
to explain his actions, but died before the enquiry into his conduct could be
held. The Treaty of Ghent in 1814 ended the hostilities and never again has
there been a threat of war on the North American Continent.

—794—

There are recorded anecdotes of chance meetings between masons oppos-
ing each other in the heat of battle and of this being the means of saving life.
The best known one is the story of the Marencourt® Cup, and besides the
account given by Gould, it is well covered in A.Q.C. Vol, 16, p. 171, and also
in Vol. 17, p. 17. It concerns the capture of the schooner United Sisters, of
Poole by Le Furet, a French privateer under the command of Captain Louis
Marencourt, who also captured during the same day the Irish sloop Three
Friends. All the captains were masons, and crews, ships and cargoes were
released, who in exchange were to liberate Bro. J. Gautier of La Confiance
who had been captured earlier during this year 1812 by the British.

In the same book the following story is told of the capture of Fort George
in 1812.

"The following is given, on the authority of an American captain of
infantry, who took part in the capture of Fort George during the
1812 war. (Actual date 27th May 1813). The British troops were
informed that orders had been issued to the American soldiers to give
no quarter. This had probably been done for the purpose of inducing
them to fight with greater desparation and to prevent desertion.
After Captain Arrowsmith's Company had landed and formed, he
led them to the charge. The British troops retired as the Americans
advanced, leaving a young wounded officer in the line of Arrowsmith's
Company. As they approached he arose on one leg (the other was
broken) and attempted to get out of the way, believing they would
bayonet him if he did not. Unable to accomplish his purpose he fell,
but turning to them as he sat on the ground, he gave the soul-thrilling
appeal to a Mason. Captain Arrowsmith described his feelings at
that moment as the most extra-ordinary he had ever experienced.
I felt, he said, as if the hairs of my head stood upright and held off
my hat. But he instantly called to the wounded man, "Don't be afraid,
my brave fellow, you shan't be hurt". Soon after he saw a surgeon,
and informed him that a friend of his, with a red coat, lay wounded
in the rear near a certain bush, and requested his attention to him, a
wish that was immediately complied with. Arrowsmith, who was
wounded in the head during the same battle, was shortly afterwards
laid by the side of his friend with the red coat, where they had time
to cultivate an intimate friendship, which lasted for many years".

I have attempted to give a picture of civilian Freemasonry from its in-
ception in Upper Canada to the beginning of the 1812 war, with its many
facets according to the many Grand and Provincial Grand Lodges which
bore jurisdiction over the constituent lodges, but have unfortunately not been
able to obtain more than a glimpse of military Freemasonry as practised by
the numerous regimental lodges attached to the regiments on duty. Owing
to the concentration of the fighting in the Niagara Peninsula a group of seven
regiments were formed which were officered and manned by Masons and other
patriots alike, settlers in that area, and these were the units.

Niagara Light Dragoons

1st. Lincoln Artillery (John Powell's Company)

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Regiments of Lincoln Militia.

A list of militia officers of the war compared with the names of the
members and visitors of St. John Lodge of Friendship No. 2 Queenston shows
a wide field of venture for the early settlers who became the backbone of the
population of the future Province of Ontario.

"Gould's Military History, p. 67.

—795—

Appendix 'A'

List of Commissions held by Members of St. John's Lodge
taken from 'Officers of the British Forces in Canada' by L. Homfray Irving
— Honorary Librarian, Royal Canadian Military Institute.

Page

178

179

Name

Clement Joseph Sr.
Clement Joseph Jr.
Clench Ralfe

258)
82)

77
76

Bradt Andrew

Campbell Robert
Secord David

864)
36)

76)

258)

Secord James
Copper James

Bowman Abraham

Phelps

Clark Thomas The

72 Adams George

265 Bowman Peter

76 Thompson David

79 Powell William

Regiment or Appointment, Rank and Address

or 2nd Bn. Terrebonne Div. Capt. Terrebonne

2nd Bn. Terrebonne Div. Ensign Terrebonne

Asse. Q.M.G. 13/3/13 Capt. Niagara
resigned 24/8/13

1st Regt. Lincoln Militia Col.
(Ensign 8th Foot; Lieut. Butler's Rangers,
'77; at Sandusky 1782 (Despatches) Lt. Col.
2nd. West Riding Reg't. Lincoln 1803 ; District
Judge at Niagara. M.L.A. 1801, 05, 13. P. of
W. 27/5/13 detained at Burlington U.S. (Mon-
treal Herald 18/12/13) at Queenston (Des-
patches)

5th Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lt. Col. Military

Pension Board, Gore District 24/5/16: once
Captain Butler's Rangers ; died at 15 Mile
Creek Louth Twp. 12/11/1830 aged 75.

2nd Reg't. Lincoln Militia Captain, Flank Coy.
(At Queenston, despatches Frenchman's Creek)

2nd Bn. Lincoln Militia Major (Formerly of
Butler's Rangers. Wounded at Oriskany;
member of Assembly for 20 years ; Commanded
Reg't. at Chippawa after Col. Dickson was
wounded).

1st Bn. Lincoln Militia Captain
At Queenston, wounded.

2nd Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lieut. Capt.
Flank Coy. 25/6/12

2nd Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lieut. 26/6/12
(wounded at Chippawa).

2nd Reg't. Lincoln Militia resigned 1812

Militia Command, Flank Coys between Fort
Erie and Queenston.

Hon.2nd Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lieut. Col.

(At Stoney Creek, Beavers Dam and Black
Rock, Wounded (Despatches) Col. 1818 Senior
Member Militia Pensions Niagara Dist.

1st. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lieut. 6/5/12 Flank
Coy. (Born at Londonderry, Ireland 1771.
Wounded at Fort George, Prisoner Oct. 1813,
Paroled 22/12/13 died Aug. 1844.

5th Reg't. Lincoln Militia Cap't. Bn. Coy.
2nd do do do Lieut. 11/3/14

(Had been a sergeant in Rowe's; wounded
at Lundy's Lane)

3rd. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Cap't. 25/1/13
(Flank Coy. At Queenston, Despatches)

—796-

46 Crysler John

79 Park Shubal
40 Swayze Isaac

265 Smith John
76 Rorback Andrew

11 Burch John

120 Connolly John

247 Beach Wm.
Appendix 'B'

1st. Reg't. Dundas Militia Cap't. 28/1/13
Bn. Coy. (Lt. Dundas Militia 1803. Medal
& Clasp Chrystler's Farm. Col. 1st, Dundas,
April 1837.

3rd Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lieut. 5/1/13
(a land Surveyor)

Troop, Provincial Royal Cap't.
Artillery Drivers (Born in New Jersey, 1751,
M.L.A. for Lincoln for 20 years. Had been
pilot of the New York Army during the
American War 1776-83. (U.C. Crown Lands)
at Queenston, Despatches. Died near Niagara,
March 24th, 1828, aged 11.

5th Reg't. Lincoln Militia Cap't. Bn. Coy.

2nd. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Cap't.
A native of New Jersey, promoted Captain
vice Hamilton. Afterwards Lt. Col. 2nd.
Lincoln. Died in Stamford Twp. 17/8/43

2nd. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Lieut. Capt. 10/3/14
(Promoted Capt. Vice Macklem absent.)

1st. Select Embodied Ensign 25/5/14
Militia Lower Canada cancelled 22/8/14

Gentlemen Volunteers 104th. designed 11/3/14

List of Commissions held by Masons listed as visitors to St. John's Lodge

of Friendship No. 2

210) Kerr Robert
259)

264 Phelps Elijah

82 Davis

33) Street Samuel

79)

79 Powell William

79 Weishuhn Henry

70 Clow Duncan

79 Trout Henry

82 Lottridge John

Indian Dept. Upper Canada Surgeon 27/3/1788
Medical Examiner, Niagara (Arrived at
Quebec 13th. Sept. 1776, as Hospital's Mate.
Served on Burgoyne's Expedition of 1777
(prisoner) also under Clinton; went to Halifax
N.S. 1778, surgeon Royal Regiment of New
York (Sir John Johnson's) 1779-24/6/1784;
Surgeon to the Loyalists 24/10/1784; surgeon
Indian Dept. 27/4/1788. Married a daughter of
Sir William Johnson 1st. Bart, by Molly
Brant. Died at Albany N.Y. March 25, aged 60.

Appears to be the same as B. Phelps once a
member, see above.

5th. Reg'. Lincoln Militia Lieut. 2/1/09 Flank
Coy.

Acting Paymaster Mar.-April 14

3rd. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Capt. 2/1/09

Former member 1798

3rd. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Ensign 25/1/13
(Had been sergeant in Warren's Coy.)

Niagara Light Dragoons Q.M. 24/10/12
(form.er member, not listed above)

3rd. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Adjutant Lieut.

25/1/13

5th. Reg't. Lincoln Militia Cap't. Bn. Coy.
(Died on service 29/11/12 formerly in Indian
Department.

—797-

66 Rose Hugh 2nd. Reg't. York Fencibles Ensign 10/5/11

96) Michigan Fencibles Capt. 5th, S.E.M. 25/1/14

Bvl. Major 15/4/14
114) McKay William Corps of Canadian Voyageurs do 2/10/12

131) (Was appointed to 5th, S.E.M. 16/3/13 and

209) from that Corps to the command of the Mich-

igan Fencibles 25/1/14)

5th. Bn. S.E.M. Capt. late Voyageurs 16/3/13
Deputy Supt. Indian Dept. Upper Canada with
rank of Lieut. CoL at Mackinac 25/12/14

240 Morris John (Craig) 3rd S.E.M. Q.M.S.

288 Slater William Tindal U.C. Militia Pressmaster, Midland District

Sources of Inform<ition and Quotations

Ten Years of Upper Canada in Peace and War 1805-15 M. Edgar

The History of Freemasonry in Canada John Ross Robertson

The War with the United States William Wood

A Library of Freemasonry Vol. HI R. F. Gould

Early Freemasonry in Ontario J. J. Talman

Minute Book Zion Lodge No. 10 Detroit

Minute Book St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2

Military Lodges Gould

Paper - Masonic Lodge in the 78th Regiment Milborne

Officers of the British Forces in Canada L. Homfray Irving

Annals of Niagara Kirby

-798—

•S., ,M-

No. 45

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

1058

•^

THE GREAT WILLIAM MORGAN

MYSTERY

By M. W. Bro. R. V. Harris

Read at the 23rc) meeting of the Association
at Toronto, Ontario, May 13, 1958.

•i**^— •• •■ » ■■ ■■ ■■— ■■ ■■— ■■^—■■..^■i ■■ ■■__»__■■-_■■__■•__•■ ■■ iiii_m__«-_>«|« I

—799—

The Great William Morgan Mystery

by R. V. Harris

For a hundred and twenty-five years the Masonic world has wondered
where and when William Morgan of anti-Masonic notoriety, was made a
Alason, if at all. The records of scores of lodges in Canada and the United
States have been searched without result, and still the question has not been
answered to everyone's satisfaction.

The facts relating to his whole life are a mystery, his age, his place of
birth, his service in the War of 1812, his later wanderings, his supposed Masonic
membership and his part in his own disappearance.

His Birth and Early Life

An examination of numerous histories reveals the fact that there are two
stories about Morgan's origin and early life. Frederick Writtlescy, as Chair-
man of the Committee on the abduction and nmrder of William Morgan at the
U. S. anti-Masonic Convention, Philadelphia. September 11, 1830, said that
Morgan was born on August 7, 1774, in Culpepper Co. Virginia. This is the
earliest definite statement on the subject. This statement was apparently based
on one made by F. S. F"erguson of Ohio, said to have been a grand nephew of
Morgan, to Robert Morris, the Masonic writer, about 75 years after the event.
He may have merely repeated what he had heard and not spoken from knowl-
edge of original sources.

Exhaustive search has also been made in official Virginia State records
for corroboration as to his age at the time of marriage — the Clerk's office
of the Hustings Court, Richmond ; the State Bureau of \'ital Statistics, the
iwo oldest Mehodist Churches in Richmond, and the records of Culpepper and
VVytheville Counties — but the record of the marriage cannot be found. A
further difficulty arises from the fact that in 1819, the supposed period of the
marriage, Virginia people were not required by law to register their marriages
and were often careless about it. We have not even been able to ascertain the
sources from which information has been obtained by various writers respecting
Morgan's marriage.

His wife was Lucinda Pendleton, daughter of Rev. Joseph Pendleton, a
Methodist Minister, of Washington County, Virginia. No record of the mar-
riage, reputed to have taken place in October 1819, has been found in the records
of Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Washington, Caroline, New Kent, Louisa, Culpepper,
Spottsylvania and Wytheville Counties. The question in issue is not the fact
of a marriage but the age of Morgan at the time of the marriage, if such fact
could be found in authentic official records.

Morris, in his life of Eli Bruce, published in 1861, stated that Morgan
was "about fifty years" of age in 1826, which if true would corroborate the
year of his birth as 1774, but there are others who say that it was 'about 1775
or 1776."

-800—

Long after the anti-Masonic excitement had died away. Rob Morris of
Kentucky wrote his book "William Morgan, or Political anti-Masonry," pub-
lished by Robert Macoy in 1883, now long since out of print. After three pages
on the question of Morgan's character, Morris says : "Upon the whole I incline
to the belief that Morgan was not a Virginian, or even American by birth,
but rather English, and this was the belief of Whitney, Cheseboro, Follett,
F.benezer Mix and others who knew him personally."

For his biography of Morgan, Morris interviewed more than a hundred
persons who knew Morgan personally, including cousins of Morgan, and it
seems reasonable to assume that this belief, though not a finding, respecting
Morgan's birth, is entitled to some respect.

Morris apparently was not influenced by anti-Masonic motives or patriotic
impulses when he wrote :

"If I were sitting as a judge, I would not believe on oath Samuel D. Greene
or David C. Miller, or Lester Beardslee or George W. Harris, who gave evi-
dence before the Writtlesey Commission." The net result is that the mass of
evidence, circumstantial and otherwise, satisfactory and unsatisfactory, dis-
closes two theories as to his place of birth, either England or Virginia.

Another ? William Morgan ?

About twenty-five years ago some evidence was discovered in the archives
of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia which would seem to support Morris'
theory. These archives contain thousands of documents, charters, minute books,
returns, corespoqdence and certificates ; the records of the history of scores
of lodges warranted in the Maritime Provinces and outside its borders, during
the period 1750 to 1866, when the present Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia was
formed.

Among the lodges established by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova
.Scotia was one known as Eastern Star Lodge No. Z7 warranted August 29,
1814, at St. Andrew's, New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River,
and about a n-.ile from the State of Maine.

The first petition for the Lodge was dated February 4th, 1812, but the
proposal was opposed by Orphan's Friend Lodge No. 34 at St. Stephen's, to
which the principal petitioners belonged, and for this reason and because of the
outbreak of the War of 1812 it was deemed advisable to defer action. The
.second petition made in 1814, however, was successful, and the Lodge was
constituted on November 22, 1814. The members were most enthusiastic ; during
the first year they erected "a handsome Masonic building costing between
£500 and £600" ; and later a R.A. Chapter was organized under the Lodge
v;arrant. On June 30, 1829, the Lodge lost everything; building, furniture,
books, and regalia, by fire. They struggled on, loaded with debt, until 1833,
when the prevailing anti-Masonic excitment generated by the disappearance of
William Morgan, penetrated the little community, and the Lodge ceased work.

—801—

In the records of Eastern Star Lodge No. 2)7, St. Andrew's, N.B. we
find the record of initiation in 1815 of a William Morgan, described as a
"branch pilot," meaning a district or local area pilot, initiated October 23,
1815, passed on the same date (a not unusual occurrence) and raised November
— 1815. Could this be the notorious William Morgan whose disclosure of
the Masonic ritual precipitated disastrous anti-Masonic agitation which all but
wrecked the Order in Canada and the United States in the period 1825 to 1835?
Who was the William Morgan initiated in Eastern Star Lodge No. 2>7 in 1815?
What other facts can be ascertained respecting this William Morgan ?

In the records of the War of 1812-15, in the public Archives at Ottawa,
we found a list of (13) Seamen engaged at the Quartermaster General's Office,
Quebec, for Service on the Lakes in Canada^ between the 6th and 8th December,
1813:

No. Time of Entry

Place & Country Age at time
Name where born of entry

Quality

X XX XX XXXX XX

6 Dec. 7th William Morgan Melford, Suffolk 3Z

XXXXX X X X

able

Remarks : Served as Volunteers on Lake Champlain this last Summer, and
are now engaged for general service."

A second reference to him in the Archives was also found in a

"List of persons proposed to be retained in the Hospital as Nurses,
Laborers, &c. partly unserviceable and others whom it will not be advisable to
return to their ships during the severity of the season.

Kingston

Hospital William Morgan Marine Unfit for service.

This list of names is signed by "Tho. Lewis, Surgeon," and on the reverse
side is the following memorandum :

"St. Lawrence" Kingston

29th December, 1814.

"Whereas you have represented to me that the necessary number of nurses
and Labourers cannot be hired for the naval hospital at this place and it appears
by the accompanying list that there are several persons in the hospital whom it
will not be advisable to return to their ships during the winter months and
( Ihers unfit for service; It is my direction that you retain these persons in the
hospital to do duty as nurses and labourers until the opening of the navigation.

To the Surgeon & Agent
of the Naval Hospital,
Kingston.

J. Yeo
Commodore & Commdr. -in-Chief."

-802—

Kingston Naval Hospital was, of course, at the present city of Kingston
on Lake Ontario, from which point it is clear "Wm, Morgan, Marine," pro-
ceeded or drifted to St. Andrew's N.B. where he was licensed as a branch
pilot. His initiation into Masonry on October 23, 1815, followed. Hs name
disappears from the returns to Grand Lodge for 1816, and it would seem
probable that he had left St. Andrew's as there is no report of his suspension
or expulsion from the Lodge.

Morgan's Own Claims

It is submitted that these meagre data throw new light on Morgan's own
claim to have served in the War of 1812 ; to have some claim to the title of
Captain, not in the army, as has been supposed by most writers, but as a
courtesy title sometimes given pilots ; and to the statement of contemporaries
that he had been made a Mason "In Canada or some foreign country." Morgan,
too, was undoubtedly of a roving disposition, and the facts discovered seem to
corroborate this trait of his character, and there may be some ground for
suspecting that "his habit of visiting the grog shops," to which Morris makes
reference, was acquired in his sailor days afloat and ashore.

It certainly establishes service in the War of 1812, not in the American
Army as the anti-Masons who desired to eulogize him asserted, but in the
British Forces. Unfortunately after an exhaustive search in the Canadian
A.rchives, the lists of the crews serving on the British ships on the Lakes
during the War, have not been discovered, but that Morgan served is beyond
question. The only difficulty arises in respect of the age given, 32. If that age
in 1813, then he must have been born in 1781, or about five years later than
some writters allege, though on this point Robert Morris makes no finding.

When the story of the discovery of the records of Eastern Star Lodge
was announced in the New York Masonic Outlook for September 1932, it was
ably criticised, by David McGregor, Grand Historian, New Jersey, pointing
out that the chief difficulties in accepting the new information had to do with
age, trade and time of initiation.

Very little, if any of the evidence relating to Morgan's age or place of
birth, as alleged by his admirers, would be receivable in evidence in any Court
of law in Canada or the United States today, were such facts in dispute. It is
all hearsay, in most instances, statements made many years after the furore
created by Morgan's disappearance, and all with few exceptions from witnesses
who had the motive of glorifying Morgan as a benefactor of society, or claim-
ing him as patriotic citizen of the United States. Scores of investigators have
merely repeated the statements of previous investigators, and it is today almost

—803—

impossible to separate truth from falsehood. Is it likely that if he had served
with the enemies of the United States in the War of 1812, he would claim
that distinction? Obviously his better course was to claim to be a patriot and
tell some circumstantial and plausible story which would cover up his tracks,
and the facts set out above do support that theory.

His Trade or Occupation

As to Morgan's trade or occupation, we are confronted with a variety of
trades and occupations. It is claimed that he served as an apprentice in stone-
cutting with one Joseph Day, a cousin, at Hap Hazard Mills, Madison County,
Virginia, and also in 1795 near Lexington, Kentucky, returning afterwards to
Virginia where he was employed on the Orange County Court House, later
removing to Richmond, Virginia, about 1796. From that date until 1820, 24
years later, there is a complete absence of supported facts, except that Morgan
himself is said to have claimed that he had served in the War of 1812-15 as
"a private soldier," and again as "a Captain in a militia regiment and that he
was present at the Battle of New Orleans, January 8th, 1815," but none of
these statements are supported by records of any kind whatsoever, including the
records of the United States War Department. If he served, it was not on the
side of the U.S.A.

He next turned up at York in Upper Canada, in 1820, and the late John
Ross Robertson (Vol. II p. 121) gives the principal facts relating to his con-
nection with that Province. He writes: "He came to Canada about 1820 - 21,
and resided for a few weeks in Toronto, then York, and afterwards secured
employment on the Humberstone farm on Yonge Street, the main roadway
leading from the North to the city, five miles from town near what was
known as 'the old covered toll gate.' He left this employment and for a short
time worked in the Doel Brewery on the Northeast corner of Bay and Adelaide
Streets, after which he returned to the United States, about 1822. Bro. Humber-
stone, of Yonge Street, a member of York Lodge No. 156, a highly esteemed
citizen, states that his father knew Morgan and employed him on his farm,
and that old neighbours of the period well remembered the man's face and
figure, and often, after the events of 1826, recounted the fact that "Morgan
had worked on Yonge Street."

Several historians record that Morgan "invested his savings in a brewery,
and even though he was generous in sampling his own wares, bid fair to make
for himself quite a competence." A fire occurred, however, and his modest
fortune was swept away (Knight. The Strange Disappearance of William
Morgan, p. 32). Another writer states that "Morgan had a capital of about
$3,000 when he reached York. Practically all of this was invested in a brewery.
A house was rented in a locality now known as Richmond Hill and the couple
•'Morgan and his wife) settled down to a life of more or less contentment."
These statements seem to have been based on evidence given by David C. Miller,
a most unreliable witness, before the Writtlesey Committee in 1830 at the
height of the Anti-Masonic excitement.

—804—

Investigation shows that the Doel Brewery at York was not built until
1827, which of course precludes Morgan having had any connection with it,
but it has also been established that a certain Dr. Doyell, who came from the
United States, carried on a private brewery between 1816 and 1825. Another
theory not supported, is that Morgan may have worked as a stone mason in
the erection of some of the early breweries in York.

Robertson says that Morgan's name cannot be found in the records of
any lodge in York, either as a visitor or member, between 1817 and 1822. He
was not known as a Mason when he lived on Yonge Street where in early
days the farmers were nearly all Masons.

There is no genuine portrait of Morgan in existence. Those who remem-
bered him said he was about five feet six inches tall, squarely built and of
dark complexion. His appearance was not unprepossessing, but his general
manner did not inspire confidence, and he was inclined to drink even to excess.

To New York State

In any event, it seems fairly well established that about 1822 or 1823
Morgan left York and went to Rochester, New York, where he found employ-
ment as a stone mason. There he met one David C. Miller, a printer from
Batavia, N.Y., in a tap-room. In a drunken stupor Morgan confided to Miller
that he was a Master Mason ; Miller replied that he had been initiated in a
Lodge at Albany, but had gone no further, and had been rejected by the lodge
at Batavia. No record has ever been found of his initiation.

Morgan's own statement in his alleged application for a copyright of his
book on August M, 1826 (a month before his disappearance) that he had
"devoted thirty years to the subject" bears on its face the marks of a pre-
varicator. This takes us back to 1796, when he was an itinerant stone mason
in Lexington, Kentucky, and a man who in 1823 had been unable to
gain admission to a Craft lodge.

Morgan and Miller became boon companions and the entire Morgan family
removed shortly afterwards to Batavia where Morgan again plied the trade
of stone cutter, but his small earnings all went for whisky and rum. Here he
visited Olive Branch Lodge No. 39 at LeRoy, six miles from Batavia, being
sponsored by a man who had given him some work. He eventually petitioned
Western Star R. A. Chapter at LeRoy and received that degree on May 31st,
1825. When a petition was prepared for a new R. A. Chapter at Batavia,
William Morgan's name was left out, because of his dissolute habits and
tendency to talk about Freemasonry in the village tap-room.

The Conspiracy

This infuriated Morgan, and he and Miller (also denied advancement in
Freemasonry) conspired "to get even with those damned Masons," by com-
piling an exposition of the Masonic ritual and printing it. Miller set the type
and advertised that the little volume would shortly be published and sold to

—805—

all purchasers. English exposes of Freemasonry, such as Samuel Pritchard's,
and "J- & B." had been reprinted in New York and Boston without doing any
damage, and in some way or other Morgan obtained a copy of one of these
books and copied it word for word. Although Miller discovered Morgan's fraud
and repudiated his agreement, he continued nevertheless to rush the printing of
the book compiled by Morgan.

Morgan's Arrest

At this juncture, while Miller still lacked the final pages of the book,
the Masons of the town deputed John Whitney, Master of a Lodge at Rochester,
to interview Morgan, then in gaol on a minor charge; Morgan confessed his
duplicity, as well as his poverty, and his desire to get away from Miller. It
is said that he denied on this occasion that he had ever been a Mason, a state-
ment which is not surprising in the face of the vicious attacks on him, and
the jeopardy he was in at the moment.

As a result of carefully prepared plans made by the Masons in Rochester,
Batavia and elsewhere, a warrant was issued, charging Morgan with a debt of
$2.00, and he was haled before a Justice and later lodged in a debtor's cell.
All this was undoubtedly with the full approval of Morgan himself. While in
gaol a party of Masons, headed by the Master of Rochester Lodge called, paid
Morgan's debt, and drove with him over 100 miles in broad daylight to Lewiston,
near Niagara Falls, where he was handed over to the ferryman to convey him
across the river to Canada on a convenient occasion. While awaiting the ferry-
man, he was placed in the powder magazine at Fort Niagara, where he remained
for five days. His gaoler on the third day summoned his "captors" back. They
agreed to give him $500.00 if he would leave the U.S.A. and live in Canada.
That night he was landed on the Canadian shore and handed over to some
Canadian Masons, and disappeared. Morgan himself is said to have cooperated
most willingly in the plans to deport him to Canada.

Back in Batavia, Miller capitalized on what had occurred. Mrs. Morgan
blamed the Masons for her husband's disappearance, and her statement was
used to help on the sale of the book.

Wild stories were started that Morgan had been "muidered" or "pushed
over Niagara Falls" by the Masons, and other fantastic rumors circulated.
Although Morgan had been traced to Hamilton, Toronto and Port Hope where
he had embarked on a boat for Boston, the frenzied crowd in Batavia de-
manded the arrest of everybody concerned in the kidnapping. Several procla-
mations were issued denouncing the 'outrage', and offering rewards for infor-
mation leading to the conviction of anyone for Morgan's murder, or for the
discovery of his body. The Niagara river was dragged and its shores patrolled,
but no trace of the missing Morgan was found. Three-fourths of the population
around the Falls seemed to be looking for the corpse, which to this day has
never been washed ashore.

-806—

In February 1827 the following official proclamation appeared in the Upper
Canada Gazette :

£50 Reward

His Excellency the Lieut. Governor having received a communication
from His Excellency the Governor of the State of New York, by
which it appears that William Morgan, who some years ago exercised
the calling of a Brewer in this place, and who has subsequently re-
sided at Canandaigua, in the State of New York, was some time in
the last year conveyed by force from that place and is supposed to be
forcibly detained under false pretences in some part of this province,
any person who may be able to afford information respecting the said
William Morgan shall, upon communicating the same to the Private
Secretary of his ' Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, receive the
reward above offered.

Government House
31st January, 1827.

Upper Canada Gazette,

York, Upper Canada, Saturday (February) 3, 1827.

This official document would seem to be some corroboration on several
points in dispute.

Robertson quotes statements made by various persons who claimed to
have had a part in Morgan's deportation or alleged death, but adds that "the
evidence is all of a most contradictory character. More than one person had a
hand in deporting him, and the fact that their narrations are conflicting leads
many to the belief that none of them are reliable."

Miller continued to grow rich from the sale of Morgan's book, which
cost him five to eight cents a copy to print and sold for $1.00. His newspaper
was sold all over the country. Anti-Masonic newspapers sprang up like mush-
rooms overnight — 130 of them. The wildest, most fantastic stories were
circulated everywhere about Morgan's abduction, the manner of his "murder,"
the sufferings of his family and the wickedness of all Freemasons, The Masonic
pastors of churches were obliged by their people to choose between their
Freemasonry and their livelihood. It actually became a hazard for a Master
Mason to serve on a jury; or to attend a Masonic meeting.

Morgan's Later Life

Meanwhile Morgan had reached Boston and had kept in touch with Miller
and apparently received a share of the money that was coming Miller's way,
provided of course that he did not come to life again ! Whenever an unknown
i)ody was found it was Morgan's. When anyone died from unknown causes
the Masons were blamed.

There is said to be some ground for believing that Morgan left Boston
on the ship "America" (Capt. Samuel Waterman) in 1826 for Smyrna, Asia
Minor, where he placed himself under the protection of the British Consul.
He was afterwards seen in Smyrna by several American visitors, who talked
with him, and later made statements and affidavits respecting him. About 1840
lie left Smyrna for Hobart, Tasmania, where he is believed to have died a
natural death.

—807—

Political Agitation

The excitment in Batavia and Niagara was overshadowed by the politicians,
particularly those who had their eyes on the White House, some of whom
were William H. Seward (late Lincoln's Secretary of State - 1828-32) ; Martin
Van Buren, (later President) ; Governor DeWitt Clinton (the foremost Mason
of the period) ; John Quincy Adams, (President 1825-29) ; Thaddeus Stevens,
and William Wirt of Maryland (also a Mason). Newspapers everywhere de-
nounced the Masons, and Masons everyAvhere recanted and condemned the
Craft.

One example may be mentioned ; Thurlow Weed, an unscrupulous candi-
date for political honors, was soon on hand when a body was taken from the
Niagara River on October 7, 1827 (thirteen months after Morgan's disappear-
ance) to view the corpse. A coroner's jury had decided that it bore no re-
semblance to Morgan, and the body was buried in the potter's field, but Weed
demanded that it be disinterred. Mrs. Morgan was called, and she said that
ihe clothes bore no resemblance to Morgan's, but Weed was not satisfied.
"The Masons had, of course, changed his clothes." A second jury was em-
pannelled, and Weed, Miller and others swore it was Morgan's body, and the
jury so found it. On this occasion someone suggested that perhaps Weed might
be mistaken. Weed replied "It's a good enough Morgan until after the election"
— a remark that soon became famous. The news of the discovery of the
body spread everywhere, and the anti-Masons were jubilant.

About this time howev er, the wife of Timothy Munro. of Newcastle. Upper
Canada was seeking news of her husband, who had recently disappeared, and
having heard of the first verdict went to the scene to learn what she could.
She got there after the second inquest had been held. At her insistence the
body was again exhumed, and this time identified by her and others beyond
all doubt as Munro's and the jury so found, and it was turned over to his family
and buried !

Political Effects

The year 1828 was a disastrous one for the Craft in New York. Anti-
Masonry became a national issue. The Legislature received a score of memorials
demanding the extermination of Freemasonry. In that year the first general
anti-Masonic Convention was held at LeRoy, N.Y., attended by delegates
from the Western Counties of the State. In August, Solomon Southwick of
Albany was nominated for Governor, and received surprisingly large support.
In 1829 Albert N. Tracy was elected Senator of the 8th District by a majority
of about eight thousand votes, and in the State election the anti-Masonic party
carried fifteen counties and polled over 67,000 votes.

John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, played a
leading part against Freemasonry. He wrote and published a series of letters
abusive of Freemasonry which appeared in many public journals in 1831-33,
later published in book form in 1847.

-808-

In 1829 he was opposed by Andrew Jackson, a Freemason and Grand
Master of his State, and was defeated. Jackson remained in office until 1837.

The next year, a Convention was held at Utica in August, when 48 counties
were represented. The anti-Masonic candidate for Governor, though defeated,
received over 120,000 votes, which was increased to over 156,000 votes two
years later when he was again defeated.

In 1833 the anti-Masonic vote was estimated to be about 350,000. In
Vermont the party carried the State in favor of its Presidential candidate. The
party however virtually collapsed after 1833, and Masonry began to regain
its lost ground.

Masonic Effects

From Maine to Illinois and from Upper Canada to Louisiana, the anti-
Masonic fever raged. Hundreds of lodges became dormant, others ceased work
altogether. In New York State the membership decreased from 20,000 in 1826
to 3,000 in 1836. In Vermont, not a single lodge was left on the roll, and the
Grand Lodge suspended activity until 1845. In New Jersey all but six lodges
gave up the ghost. The Grand Lodge of Maine did not meet for several years.

In Canada, lodges were everywhere affected, in both Upper and Lower
Canada. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick only four or five lodges kept
the light burning. The total membership of St. Andrew's Lodge, Halifax,
dwindled to eleven, and that was as much as the other two lodges had together
outside of the Digby Lodge. Freemasonry was all ut dead everywhere in
what we now call Canada.

The anti-Masonic movement did permanent damage to the Craft, par-
ticularly in the United States, and resulted in many books being published
attacking the Order. The Lutheran Church Synod excommunicated Masonic
members who refused to forswear Freemasonry. In 1882 a huge monument
was erected in Batavia on which the inscription appears that "Morgan was
murdered by the Masons." This was erected by the National Christian
Association.

Recovery

Eventually Freemasonry emerged from this fiery persecution stronger and
sounder than it was before. Men of high standing who could never be accused
of murder or treason identified themselves with the Order. The public saw
tnrough the hollow sham of self-seeking politicians and put their trust in
honest men of unflinching fidelity, who could not be bought or sold.

Acknowledgments

In the preparation of the original paper (1932) and its revision (1958)
1 acknowledge my indebtedness for information and criticism to the late James
Vroom P.G.M. (N.B.) ; the late J. Hugo Tatsch, N.Y. ; Wm. L. Cummings,
Syracuse (N.Y.) ; H. V. B. Voorhis, (N.Y.) ; David McGragor (N.J.) and
others.

—809—

References :

History of Freemasonry in Canada, Vol. 2, p. 123.

Freemasonry at Batavia, N.Y. by David Seaver, 1891.

Brown's Historical Narrative, Batavia, 1929, The Strange Disappearance
(^f William Morgan, by Thomas A. Knight, 1923.

William Morgan's Initiation, by R. V. Harris, in New York Masonic
Outlook, Sept. 1932. Reply by David McGregor in November issue, 1932.

Bibliography of anti-Masonry.

Nocalore, April 1934.

Dominion Archives Ottawa (War of 1812).

Grand Lodge of N.S. Archives.

—810—

Freemasonry at the Two Sieges
of Louisbourg

1745 and 1758

By R.V. Harris

with tlie assistance of

James R. Case and A.J. B. IVIilbQme

—811—

No 46 Freemasonry at the Two Sieges

of Louisbourg

1745 and 1758

By R.V.Harris

with the assistance of

James R. Case and A.J.B. Milborne

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In compiling the following account of Freemasonry at the two sieges of Louisbourg, I
wish to acknowledge invaluable collaboration and advice from Col. James R. Case,
Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, and to A.J.B. Milborne of
Montreal, President of the Canadian Masonic Research Association and Historian of the
Grand Lodge of Quebec; also to many published articles and works relating to the
Military and Masonic history of the period 1717 - 1800, and to many correspondents in
Canada, the United States and the British Isles. A partial list of printed sources and
references is annexed.

INTRODUCTORY

Louisbourg in Cape Breton is classic with the warring policies of two rival empires;
with the struggles of mighty armies and great armadas, of drama on a huge stage of
stirring events that settled the fortunes of this Continent.

The period 1730 to 1760 was undoubtedly one of the most dramatic in American
Masonic history and because the researches have hitherto been difficult, fragmentary and
tentative, much must still remain to be done to settle doubts that present themselves. This
paper is only a beginning.

The Treaty of Utrecht

The reader will remember that by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the mainland of Nova
Scotia was ceded to the British Crown. The 12th and 13th articles of the Treaty stated
"that all Nova Scotia or Acadie — the Island of Newfoundland with the adjacent
islands — (including) the town and fortress of Placentia — shall from this time
forth belong of right to Great Britain. But the Island of Cape Breton, shall here-
after belong of right to the King of France, who shall have the right to fortify any
places there"

By this concession, Cape Breton, jutting far out into the Atlantic, was to remain a
French outpost guarding the approaches to French Canada and the Gulf and River St.
Lawrence.

Cape Breton became Isle Royale; for nearly fifty years to be a French possession of
strategic and economic importance. Havre ^ I'Anglais, English Harbour, formerly the

—812—

resort of English fishermen who annually crossed the Atlantic and made it the base of their
operations on the Grand Banks and the place where they salted and dried their catch,
became the mighty French fortress of Louisbourg.

In the same way, Spanish fishermen had used Baye des Espagnois, now Sydney
Harbour, and the French fishermen Bale Ste. Anne. To these ports came five to six
hundred vessels every summer. Thus the immediate effect of the Treaty of 1713 was to
exclude the English fishermen from participation in their former rights and privileges, and
at the same time the New England fishermen who came in even greater numbers to these
prolific fishing grounds.

Louisbourg

Following the signing of the Treaty, the French at once took possession of Cape
Breton, removed 180 fishermen and their families from Placentia in Newfoundland to
Havre k I'Anglais, now Louisbourg, and took steps to fortify it. Philippe Pastour de
Costabelle from Placentia became its first governor under the new regime.

For the next twenty-five years or more, the French expended vast sums of mone^ on
huge walls and ramparts surrounding the city, rendering it one of the greatest military
strongholds in the world. The natural position of the fortress strengthened by all the arts
and devices of military science made it, in the opinion of military strategists of the day,
well-nigh impregnable and justified its title of "The Dunkirk of America".

Louisbourg became more than a fishery protection enterprise; it was an outpost of
the greatest military power of the age, the metropolis of the Western world; the pivot and
key of the growing colonial power of France and as such a menace to the struggling
colonies to the southward. One or the other must eventually yield. There could be no
co-existence.

During the period of construction a very considerable commerce developed with New
England and elsewhere. To feed the great army of builders and to transport the vast
supplies of building materisils, was no small task, and supplies were imported from French
Canada, the Island of St. John (now Prince Edward Island), the French West Indies, and
from Boston and New England.

Ironically enough much of the material — timber and bricks — were sold at good
prices to the French builders by the New Englanders who later in 1745 formed the expedi-
tion to exterminate the French as a menace to the commerce and welfare of the colonies.

Canso

As a partial alternative, the English and the New England fishermen were obliged to
make Canso on the north east point of the mainland their base of operations. A company
of Philipps (40th) Regiment at Annapolis Royal was transferred to this base to occupy and
fortify it on a small scale, so that the New Englanders might be protected in their prosecu-
tion of their fisheries.

The French also laid claim to Canso in the interest of the fish supply to their growing
city on Isle Royale, and carried on their fishery there under guard.

The first clash took place in 1718 when the English made an attack on the French.
In 1720 the Indians attacked the settlers, killing several, and the French completed the

—813—

pillage of the place with a loss to the English of £20,000. Capt. John Henshaw, formerly
of Boston, a principal merchant of Canso, thereupon seized several French settlers and
took them to Annapolis in his sloop.

In 1723 there were 49 English families there, making it the largest settlement in the
country. They were chiefly engaged in the fisheries and were reported to be in prosperous
condition. (Calnek, p. 73). That year there were 197 vessels at Canso. (Murdoch, ii, p. 424).

Captain John Bradstreet, an officer of the garrison at Canso, writing to the Board of
Trade in England in 1725, said he was familiar with Louisbourg and had found there so
many vessels from New England and Nova Scotia, that two sheep could be bought there
for the price of one at Canso. (McLennan, p. 56).

In June 1728, Governor Richard Philipps arrived at Canso in H.M.S. "ROSE" and
remained there until October 1729. He found 250 vessels and from 1,500 to 2,0(X) men,
employed in catching and loading fish. In 1730, Philipps writes **Canso, which is the envy
and rival of Cape Breton (the French headquarters) in the fisheries, will be the first
attacked in case of war with France." Philipps repeatedly urged its increased protection,
and in one letter proposed to make it the capital of the Province.

Besides New Englanders and Frenchmen who fished with this point as their base,
West of England people also came every spring for purposes of fishing "with many ships".

In 1734 William Shirreff, secretary of the Council at Annapolis Royal, reported that
Canso lay "naked and defenceless" against the French, "without so much as barracks to
lodge the four companies of Colonel Philipps' regiment stationed there for its defence, or
store-houses, except hasty slight erections put up from time to time by the commanders,
assisted by the fishermen." If the place were taken by the French, Mr. Shirreff says, "The
loss would affect not only Nova Scotia but New England, New York, and other planta-
tions, for British subjects resort thither from all parts. As it is the only place in the province
that can be said to have been frequented all along by British subjects, its loss would very
much affect the traders, and strengthen the French and enable them to do more damage
along the coast with their privateers."

Many of the men identified with the early history of Canso between 1720 and 1745,
such as the officers of the little garrison, Hibbert Newton the Collector of Customs, and
other inhabitants, as well as many of the New England traders and captains were undoubt-
edly Masons, and it is very possible that visits were made by them to Masonic Lodges in
Boston.

Commercial Intercourse

Intercourse between Annapolis Royal and Canso was constant during these early
years; and Boston was the commercial and social metropolis of both the Aimapolis and
Canso people. In Boston a great part of the population had been bom, to Boston markets
the traders regularly shipped the products they bought from the French, and from Boston
came all the manufactured goods except the coarsest clothing that the families of the place
used in their homes. Even the officers of the garrison varied the monotony of their dull life
in this remote place by excursions to Boston for social intercourse with people who lived in
a larger world.

The ledgers of Peter Faneuil, merchant of Boston, contain many entries of transac-

—814—

tions with merchants of Louisbourg. Hibbert Newton, the Collector of Customs at Canso,
wrote in 1728 that eighteen vessels in that port laden with lumber, bricks, livestock, sail
cloth, rum, wine, molasses, &c., had cleared for Newfoundland, their Masters having no
intention of going farther than Louisbourg where they sold their cargoes and often their
vessels as well. (McLennan p. 76).

Peter Faneuil was of Huguenot descent, the eldest son of Benjamin Faneuil and
Ann Bureau, who settled in New Rochelle, N. Y., in 1699. Peter was born in 1701 . He and
his brother, Benjamin, were adopted by their uncle Andrew. Peter later inherited his
uncle's vast wealth and lived in sumptuous style. He not only built Faneuil Hall as a gift to
the city, but gave generously to numerous charities. He died in 1742 leaving his great estate
to his two nephews, Peter and Benjamin, both of whom were Masons (I Mass. 261, 426).

Peter Faneuil's agent in Louisbourg in 1738 was one Morel (McLennan p. 78).

Capt. Robert Comyns

Among the New England traders to Louisbourg we find Capt. Robert Comyns, or
Cummins, and it is significant that in the register of the Grand Lodge of England for 1737,
we find his appointment by the Earl of Darnley, G. M., as "Provincial Grand Master for
Cape Breton and ye Town of Louisburg." The entry is repeated under the date 1738, with
the words "excepting such places where a Provincial Grand Master is already appointed,"
possibly referring to the recent appointment of Major Philipps. As there were probably no
Masonic Lodges among the French in Cape Breton at this time, the appointment must
have been for the benefit of the hundreds of New Englanders who frequented both Louis-
bourg and Canso.

Captain Comyns would seem to have been the Master of a trading vessel sailing
between Boston and Nova Scotia ports, possibly one of the numerous traders in the
employ of Peter Faneuil.

Annapolis Lodge

Also in 1738, we find that a Lodge was established in the garrison at Annapolis Royal
by Major Erasmus James Philipps, of Col. Richard Philipps' Foot (later known as the
40th Regiment).

Erasmus James Philipps had been made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, on
November 14, 1737, in the presence of William Shirreff, already a Mason and a resident of
Aimapolis Royal since 1716. The record (Mass. Proc. I, p. 7) reads that "Mr. (Henry)
Price granted a Deputation at ye Petition of sundry Brethren at Annapolis in Nova Scotia
to hold a Lodge there." The Lodge which was virtually a regimental Lodge received a
warrant No. 42 from the "Ancients" in 1755.

Erasmus James Philipps, a nephew of Col. Richard Philipps, was a member of the
Council of the Province at Annapolis Royal, and was named in 1737 as a commissioner
along with Dr. William Skene and Major Otto Hamilton to define the boundaries between
Massachusetts and Rhode Island and for this purpose was in Boston from August 1737 to
June 1738. He was appointed Provincial Grand Master for Nova Scotia in March 1738.
He visited the First Lodge, Boston, on April 11 and May 9, 1739.

—815—

He married Ann the daughter of John and Ann Dyson of Annapohs Royal in 1740,
and Elizabeth, one of their four children, became the wife of Capt. Horatio Gates of
Revolutionary War fame.

Philipps also issued a dispensation for the First Lodge at Halifax in 1749-50. He
represented Annapolis Royal in the Legislature in 1759-60, and died at Halifax in 1760.

King George's War 1744-48

On March 15, 1744, War was declared by France against Great Britain, a swift sailing
vessel being dispatched immediately to inform Duchambon the French Governor at Louis-
bourg. On May 13th, he in turn sent DuVivier with several vessels and about 351 men to
attack Canso.

They embarked on the Schooner "La Succes" a privateer, 94 men, commanded by
Louis Doloboratz, with fourteen boats as transports.

On May 24th the garrison of 120 men with no other defence except a blockhouse,
realized that resistance would be futile, and capitulated on condition that troops and
inhabitants should be conveyed to England or Annapolis within a year, and their private
property spared and taken to Louisbourg in Capt. John Bradstreet's schooner.

DuVivier undertook to use his best efforts to have the women and children sent at
once to Boston or Annapohs. The town and blockhouse were burned, and the inhabitants
transported to Louisbourg, where they remained until the autumn when at their own
request, they were sent to Boston. The officers captured on this occasion were Capt.
Patrick Heron, Lieut. Thomas Prendergast, Christopher Aldridge, Jr., Samuel Cottnam
and George Scott, and Ensigns George Ryall, J. Elliott and John Bradstreet, all of
Philipps (40th) Regiment at Annapolis.

The sequel to the capture of Canso is of considerable Masonic interest. After the
capture of Canso, Doloboratz proceeded along the coast of New England in search of
enemy commerce. In course of time he encountered Capt. Edward Tyng (who married a
daughter of Capt. Cyprian Southak) in the "Prince of Orange" the first Man-of-War of
Massachusetts. After a spirited rurming-fight from 9 o'clock in the morning until two
o'clock the following morning, Tyng overhauled the Frenchman, compelling him to lower
his colours, and brought him into Boston as a prize of war. (McLennan p. 124)

Doloboratz, while in Boston, was allowed considerable liberty, and on October 10th,
1744, was proposed as a candidate for Masonry in the First Lodge.

Bro. Price "acquainted the Lodge that he (Doloboratz) was a gentleman, who, being
a prisoner of war, was thereby reduced, but as he might be serviceable (when at Home) to
any Bro. who Providence might cast in his way, it was desir'd he might be excus'd the
expence of his making, provided each Bro. would contribute his cloathing, which the Rt.
Worsh'l Mas'r was pleas'd to put to vote when it was carried in affirmative & by dispensa-
tion from the Rt. W. Mas'r & Wardn, upon acct. of his leaving the Province very soon, he
was ballotted in, introduced & made a Mason in due form. Bro. P. Pelham (moved) that
the Sec'r grant Bro. Doloboratz a letter of recommendation."

New England Arms for Attack

The prisoners of war from Canso lost no time on arriving in Boston in convincing the

—816—

New Englanders of the possibility of, as well as the necessity for, reducing Louisbourg,
and plans were set on foot for a great expedition against the city.

The project was not new for such an expedition had been proposed by William
Vaughan. John Bradstreet, Judge Auchmuty, Governor Clark of New York and many
other prominent New Englanders had urged for over twenty years the reduction of Louis-
bourg as a menace to the j)eace of the Colony. The arrival of the Canso prisoners was all
that was needed to settle the much-debated question.

The serious interruptions of the fisheries, the devastation of privateers, the raid on
Canso, and an attack on Annapolis the same year, aroused the most intense feeling against
France throughout the New England colonies, where the accounts brought by traders and
others had already excited considerable alarm. It was believed that Louisbourg would be
made the base of operations against the British colonies in America in the coming war.

The New Englanders under Governor William Shirley at once adopted the bold
course of making an effort to reduce the great stronghold, described as "the Dunkirk of
America".

"Every motive was appealed to, as is always the case when the success of a policy
depends on the support of an independent people. The expedition, to the fanatic, was
directed against Romanism; to the timorous was a preventive of invasion; to the greedy, a
chance for plunder; and to all an object for the self-sacrifice of every patriotic Briton."
(McLennan p. 134)

Shirley's activity was prodigious, and in a short time he secured the co-operation of
the Home government, and of those of New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The government of New York provided £5,000; New Jersey £2,000 and Pennsylvania
£4,000.

The British government supported the project by sending a strong Naval squadron
under Commodore Peter Warren, then cruising in the West Indies.

William Shirley, Governor of Massachusetts, though not a Mason, should be especially
mentioned here because of the leading part he played in the great expedition against Louis-
bourg. On his appointment in 1741 as the successor of the Hon, Jonathan Belcher, a Free-
mason of considerable distinction, the First Lodge, Boston, appointed a committee to wait
upon him "to congratulate him on his advancement to the government of the Province."

The address said that "as it has been the Custom for men in the most exalted Station
(of Governor) to have had the Door of our Society's Constitution always opened to them
(when desired) we think it our Duty to acquaint your Excellency of that Custom, and
assure you, that we shall chearfully attend your Excellency's Pleasure therein." This frank
and un-Masonic invitation was never accepted.

Shirley was born in Preston, England, in 1693, and migrated to Boston in 1732 where
he practised as an attorney, and occupied several subordinate official positions.

As Governor 1741-45, his policies were progressive and based on the fundamental
view that there was not room enough on the continent for colonies of both France and
England. He was undismayed by responsibility and by his persuasive leadership, clear
thinking and exhaustive writing, achieved his objectives.

—817—

He served again as Governor in 1753 and as Major General and Commander in Chief
of forces in North America in 1755. He retired in 1756, and was later appointed Governor
of the Bahamas in 1759. He died in Roxbury, Massachusetts, March 24, 1771. (Portrait
Foote ii p. 79)

The Attacking Forces

A force of some 4,300 men was raised in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hamp-
shire and Connecticut, and placed under the command of Col. William Pepperell; the
enterprise to be undertaken in co-operation with a British squadron under Commodore
Peter Warren.

Col. William F^epperell was born in June 1696 at Kittery in Maine. In early life he
engaged in ship-building, and was also associated with his brother-in-law, William Tyler, a
merchant in Boston. In 1727 he was appointed a member of the Council of the Province of
Massachusetts, of which body he continued a member for thirty-two years, being
President for 18 years. In 1723, he married Mary Hirst, of a family of distinction in
Boston. In 1730 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas,
continuing in that office until his death in 1759. He resided most of his time in Boston and
rapidly became a man of great influence and wealth.

His sword is on display in the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Although no record has been found of his Masonic membership, it is a fact that many
of his closest friends and associates were members of the Craft.

Commodore Peter Warren was born in County Meath in Ireland about 1700 and was
commissioned a Captain in the Navy in 1727. He commanded the "Leopard" in 1734 and
the "Squirrel" in 1741 ; promoted Commodore in 1744 on the Coast of America and in the
West Indies. He married Susan, daughter of Lieut. -Governor James Delancy of New York
and purchased extensive tracts of land on the Mohawk River and farther west. In 1734, he
invited his nephew, William Johnson, then in Ireland, to take charge of his estates. He
lived for a time in Greenwich Village, N. Y. (Harper's Mag. Aug. 1893).

He greatly distinguished himself in a sea fight off Cape Finisterre in 1747 and was
made a baronet for his services. He died in England in 1752.

Naval Squadron

The Naval forces under Commodore Warren consisted of:

"Superbe"

60 guns

Captain Richard Tedderman (flagship)

"Eltham"

40 guns

Captain Philip Durell

"Launceston"

40 guns

Captain W. Calmady

"Mermaid"

40 guns

Captain James Douglass

"Chester"

50 guns

"Hector"

40 guns

Captain Cornwall

"Princess Mary"

60 guns

Captain Edwards

"Canterbury"

60 guns

"Sunderland"

60 guns

"Lark"

40 guns

—818—

The Colonial Naval forces included:

From Massachusetts

"Massachusetts" 24 guns

"Molineux" 16 guns
"Prince of Orange" 14 guns

"Shirley" 24 guns

"Caesar" 14 guns

"Bien Aime" 30 guns

"Defense" 12 guns
"Benetta"

Captain Edward Tyng
Captain Jonathan Snelling
Captain Joseph Smythurst
Captain John Rous
Captain George Griffith
Captain Gatham or Gayton

Captain Moses Bennett

with ninety transports all under Captain Tyng as Commodore.

Captain Joseph Smythurst, of the "Prince of Orange" was made a Mason in the First
Lodge, Boston, December 22, 1742.

Captain Jonathan Snelling was not a Mason at the time of the first siege. He was
made a Mason in St. Andrew's Lodge, Boston, between 1757 and 1763 (Mass. Proc. I, p.
447), and was active in that Lodge (W.M. 1771) and in the Grand Lodge.

Other ships belonging to the Colonial forces, employed in the expedition were:

Connecticut

Captain John Prentis

"Defence"
New Hampshire
"Abigail"

Rhode Iisland
"Tartar" (sloop)

The Military Forces

later

Captain Edward Brooks
Lieutencmt Zachariah Forss
Captain John Femald

14 guns & 12 swivels

Captain Fones

Massachusetts contributed 3,250 men, exclusive of officers. Of this Army, upwards
of 1,000 came from Pepperrell's native county - York, now known as the State of Maine.
New Hampshire contributed 500 Men
Connecticut 516 men

Rhode Island 150 men

A full list of the officers of the various regiments and of the staff of the expedition is
given in Appendix A to this paper. Those in italics (underlined) were Masons before
leaving for Louisbourg. For the most part this Army was composed of artisans, fisher-
men, farmers and labourers of all classes, led by very few officers with any military
experience, the whole expedition under the command of a merchant and a lawyer, pitted
against the greatest army of its time, and one of the strongest fortresses in the world.

Of the General Officers and Staff of the expedition, the following are known to have
been made Freemasons before the siege of 1745:

-819-

John Osborne, Chciirman of the Committee of War, was made a Mason in the First
Lodge, Boston, on January 14, 1735/36. He was elected Junior Warden in the same year
and Junior Grand Warden in 1737 (I Mass. 393, 398, 470). He was the partner of Thomas
Oxnard, Provincial Grand Master for North America 1743/44 to 1754, as well as his
father-in-law. He held many public offices in Boston.

Robert Glover. Adjutant General appointed March 10, 1744, affiliated with the First
Lodge, Boston, January 23, 1745, and was apparently made in another Lodge. He was
raised in Masters Lodge, March 22, 1745.

Dr. Edward Ellis, Surgeon General, made a Mason in the First Lodge, November 9,
1743; raised in the Masters Lodge, December 7, 1744 (Johnson, p. 276, 295)

He married October 18, 1756, at Newport, R. L, Abigail, dau. of Job & Mary (Little)
Otis and widow of Andrew Haliburton. (Ancestor of Thos. Chandler Haliburton) of the
First Lodge, Boston, 1733 (Mass. 1, p. 3, 398, 401), made before 1733.

Others who served at the first siege of 1745 or in the garrison following the capture of
the city were the following:

Thomas Kilby, Agent of Massachusetts in London in 1743 and Commissary of the King's
Stores in the siege, was made in the First Lodge, Boston, some time between its founding
in 1733 and the year 1738. He was present at the Feast of St. John the Evangelist in
Boston, December 27, 1743.

On March 6, 1743/44, he was appointed Senior Grand Warden by Thomas Oxnard,
Grand Master, and on December 26, 1744, was chosen as Master of St. John's Lodge.

He died at Louisbourg, August 23, 1746.

Samuel Curwen was a graduate of Harvard and later became a merchant in Salem, Mass.
He served as a Captain in the expedition against Louisbourg in 1745. He was made a
Mason in St. John's Lodge, Boston, on November 13, 1734. During the Revolutionary
period he compiled a journal of loyalist activities which is a valuable source of
information.

Colonel John Bradsteet of the York County Regiment was credited by Pepperrell as the
first projector of the expedition against Louisbourg, although that honour has also been
ascribed to Col. William Vaughan and to Robert Auchmuty, Judge advocate of the
Admiralty Court in New England.

He was at Annapolis Royal as early as 1720 at which time he is referred to as "a
volunteer in the garrison" (Akins p. 25). He was sent to Minas to observe the conduct of
the Acadians. He was sent with letters to the Governor of Louisbourg in 1725 and
frequently visited that city.

He became a Lieutenant in Philipps (40th) Regiment in 1735, in which there was later
a Masonic Lodge. He was undoubtedly made a Mason in that Lodge between 1738 and 1745.

He was frequently at Canso and at Louisbourg.

After the siege, he was made Governor of Placentia in Newfoundland. In 1755 he was
Adjutant General under Governor William Shirley of Massachusetts. He took part in the

—820—

attack on Ticonderoga in 1758, and a few months later led the attack on Fort Frontenac
(Kingston, Ont.). He led a rehef expedition to Detroit during the investment of that place
by Pontiac, and two years later was made a Major General. He died at New York in 1774.

"No person behaved with more zeal, activity and judgment at Louisbourg."

Colonel 1762; Major General 1772

Died September 25, 1774

(Burpee-, says at Detroit (Wisconsin Hist. Soc.-also that he was bom at Horbling,
England) in 1711, which seems absurd when taken in connection with his services
in 1720).

(3) In the 2nd York County Regiment known also as the 3rd Massachusetts, commanded
by Col. Jeremiah Moulton, we find the following:

Captain Peter Prescott of the York Co. Regt., was made a Mason in the First
Lodge, Boston, November 9th, 1733, and rejoined June 27, 1739. He was present in Grand
Lx)dge, March 6, and at the Feast of St. John, December 27, in 1743.

Captain Samuel Rhodes also of the same Regiment, was made in the same Lodge on
January 27, 1742. (Mass. I, 399)

(4) In Col. Willard's 4th Massachusetts Regiment we find the following:

Ensign John Webster made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, April 3, 1740
(Mass. I, p. 399). There was also an Ensign John Webster in Col. Richmond's Connecticut
Regiment.

(5) In Col. Robert Hale's (Essex County) Regiment, known also as the 5th Massachusetts
Regiment, we find at this time of departure from Boston, the following:

Captain Benjamin Ives made in the First Lodge, Boston, August 10, 1743. He later
came to Halifax with Cornwallis in 1749 (Mass. I, 399)

(9) In the New Hampshire Regiment, commanded by Colonel Samuel Moore, we find the
following:

Captain Joseph Sherburne was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge in 1739. Served
as Captain from June 6, 1744 to June 30, 1746.

Captain John Tufton Mason made in St. John's Lodge, March 5, 1740, served as
Captain from February 13, 1744 to July 31, 1746. In the Army List for 1759, we find
Major John Tufton Mason an officer in a Company of Marines.

Captain Henry Sherburne the Treasurer and Charter Member of St. John's Lodge
at Portsmouth, N.H., founded in February 1739. Captain, February 13, 1744 to June 28,
1746.

Lieut. Nathaniel Fellows, S.W., of the same Lodge in 1739, served in the Regiment
from June 20, 1744 to September 30, 1746.

Ensign Thomas Newmarch also a Charter Member of the same Lodge in 1739,
served as Ensign February 13, 1745 to September 30, 1746.

-821—

Ensign John Loggin, Secretary of the Lodge in 1739, served from July 16, 1744 to
June 17, 1746.

Adjutant John Eyre made in St. John's No. 1 , June 24, 1740, served from February
13, 1744 to November 10, 1746.

There is a tradition that William Wentworth made in St. John's Lodge, April 13,
1740, served with the expedition. If so, it was not as an officer in this regiment.

(10) Lieut. Thomas Campling of the Train of Artillery at Louisbourg was made a Mason
in the First Lodge, Boston, on October 13, 1742.

Lieut. Joseph Holbrook, also of the Train of Artillery affiliated with the First
Lodge, Boston, on January 11, 1744. He was present at the installation of Thomas Oxnard
as Provincial Grand Master in 1743.

Captain Abraham Reller of St. John's Lodge, Portsmouth, served in the Train of
Artillery at Louisbourg. He affihated with St. John's Lodge, Boston, on January 11,
1744, along with Lieut. Joseph Holbrook (see above).

The Siege Begins

It is, of course, extremely unlikely that there was any Masonic activity among the
attacking forces after leaving New England in March 1745 and their arrival at Louisbourg.
The exigencies of military service would hardly permit that. Certainly no trace of any
activity has been found, during the next few months.

Arriving at Canso, the troops were landed and drilled and a junction made with the
Naval squadron under Warren. Here, too, a blockhouse was erected in which eight guns
were mounted. Just before re-embarkation on April 29th, a grand review by General
Pepperrell took place on Canso Hill.

Chevalier de la boularderie

The attacking forces arrived at Louisbourg on April 30th and made a landing some
miles from the city at a cove in Gabarus Bay, south of the city. The French made an
attempt to prevent the landing by sending a small detachment under the command of one
Anthony de la Boularderie, the son of Chevalier Louis Simon de St. Aubin le poupet,
grantee of Boularderie Island, in the Bras D'Or Lakes, Cape Breton.

This enterprising Frenchman, Chevalier de la Boularderie, had served in the Navy
and distinguished himself in the successful defence of Port Royal in 1707. In 1732 he was
connected with a commercial venture for the settlement of Cape Breton lands, he himself
receiving a grant on the island which now bears his name. He died in 1738.

The Chevalier's son was very comfortable on the New World estate which he
inherited from his father, where he had in his employ 25 persons and he had "a very
handsome house, bam, stable, dairy, dovecote and oven, wind and water mills, 25 cows
and other livestock"; later, he had "150 barrels of fine wheat and vegetables as in Europe,
a large orchard and garden."

Bom in 1705 at Annapolis Royal he had served as a Lieutenant in the Regiment de
Richelieu. Boularderie had taken part in the Canso expedition of May, 1744, and on

—822—

hearing of the proposed attack on Louisbourg, had come from his estate at Petit Bras
D'Or and had offered his services to Governor Duchambon, The French party, which was
hopelessly outnumbered ten to one, lost seven killed, and after exchanging a few shots
turned and fled, leaving behind them several prisoners, including Boularderie, and several
wounded, all of whom were later taken to Boston.

The sequel to this little sortie by the French is to be found in the minute book of the
First (St. John's) Lodge, Boston. In Boston, Boularderie and his comrades were allowed
considerable liberty, and made a good impression on the authorities and people.

On August 14th, 1745, Anthony de la Boularderie and Peter Philip Charles St. Paul
were made Masons in St. John's Lodge. The record reads:

"Wednesday, August 14th, 1745, being Lodge night, Bro. Price propos'd Mr. P.P. S.
Paul an Bro. Audibert propos'd Mr. Anton. D Laboulerdree as Candidates & desired the
Brethren to proceed to Ballot which they did and it pass'd in the affirmative, and by
Reason the Candidates were but sojourners they were Introduced and after the usual
ceremonies were made Masons in due Form."

Bro. Boularderie was subsequently sent to France with a certificate that he "behaved
himself as a gentleman, with the approbation of the government and has also been of the
greatest service to the other prisoners who have been brought here." This certificate was
signed and sealed, Sept. 12th, 1745, by various distinguished citizens, among whom were
members of the Governor's Council, including Joshua Winslow, and Benjamin Pember-
ton, its Secretary, (made a Mason May 22, 1734).

"We certifiy that M. de la Boularderie during his residence in this city behaved
himself as a gentleman, with the approbation of the government and has also been of the
greatest service to the French prisoners who have been brought here.

"Given under our seals at Boston this 12th Sept. 1745 A.D.

"Benj. Pollard, High Sheriff
N. Frankland, Counsellor
Joshua Winslow
Thomas Hancock
Thomas Gunters
Endicott Cooke
John Turner
Benj. Pemberton -

Clerk of Sup. Council, &c."

The Siege and Surrender

After a defence of six weeks, the great fortress surrendered on June 17, 1745, to the
New Englanders and the British Squadron, one of the most notable successes of the wars
between Britain and France in America. That the inexperienced militia of the American
colonies, at that time neither rich nor populous, should undertake the hazardous
enterprise, even though supported by naval forces, of attacking a redoubtable fortress
believed by military strategists to be impregnable and of opposing the regular troops of the
greatest power of the age, all appear little short of a miracle.

—823—

The taking of Louisbourg by the "pitchfork army" of Yankees in 1745 was celeb-
rated vociferously in the New World. It was noted with equal rejoicing in old London.
Though the French garrison had marched out on June 17, it was not until July 23 that
information of the event reached the British capital. The Tower and Park guns were fired
in honour of the victory, homes and public offices were illuminated, and in the evening
bonfires and ringing bells testified to the general satisfaction.

New England held a series of Thanksgiving services, and there was everywhere great
rejoicing over the great military achievement of the colonial forces, rashly undertaken but
Providentially successful.

General Pepperrell was created a baronet. Commodore Warren was promoted to
Admiral and made a baronet in 1747.

The British Parliament reimbursed the Colonies at least in part by donating upwards
of £250,000, a not inconsiderable sum in those days, towards the cost of the expedition.

In 1895, the New England Society of Colonial Wars erected a magnificent polished
granite shaft to the memory of not only the New England dead who fell in the first siege,
but also to commemorate the service and sacrifice of the British and French participants in
both the first and second siege (1758).

The close connection of New England with this epoch-marking event is echoed in the
lines written by Emilie Poulsson:

"The essence of Boston, now grown

Somewhat rare.
Still lends its aroma to Louisburg

Square."

The St. Louis Bell

Although a digression, it will be of interest here to refer to a bell known as the "Saint
Louis". This, and two others, were the royal gift in 1735 of Louis XV of France to the
fortress named in his honour, and were on arrival blessed, dedicated and named Saint
Louis, Saint Antoine Marie and Saint John, and were hung in the Citadel known as the
King's Bastion.

The Saint Louis, the largest, weighed 2,600 pounds or about 500 pounds more than
the Liberty Bell. On the fall of the fortress, Pepperrell presented the bell to the Queen's
Chapel, now St. John's Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1806 the church was
destroyed by fire and the bell had to be recast by Paul Revere. After nearly a century of
ringing it cracked in 1905, and had to be recast, 300 pounds being added, with a new
inscription. On July 29, 1933, the bell was rung in a good-will broadcast from St. John's
Church to the people of Canada and was clearly heard by the people of Louisbourg.

The Memorial History of Boston (vol. II) records that a cross taken from a Chapel in
Louisbourg is now above the entrance of Harvard College Library in Boston.

Privateering

Throughout the period of conflict, the New England colonies were active in fitting
out privateers which greatly interfered with the French ships of commerce proceeding to
Canada, Cape Breton and the West Indies. In 1745, no less than 113 privateers were
authorized by the colonial governments. Among their captains we find numerous
Freemasons.

—824—

Capt. Samuel Waterhouse of the "Hawk", who was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge,
Boston, Sept. 10th, 1740, by dispensation on account of his being obliged to leave the
province soon, was reprimanded by the Council of the Province of Massachusetts, Aug.
18th, 1744, for "not vigorously attacking a French privateer of much lesser force".
Having promised "to manage his affeiirs for the future more agreeably to the honour of
his commission" his commission was continued on trial. This rebuke on the chances of
war, led the following week to his sending three prizes of war to Boston.

The Occupation

Warren was appointed Governor and he and Pepperrell remained at Louisbourg until
the Spring of 1746. The sick were sent home, also those who had urgent business. In
October 1745 the garrison was nominally 2,000 men about one-third of whom were on the
sick list. No less than 890 Provincials died between December and April 1746.

The danger of an attempt by the French to recapture the fortress was the cause of
much concern, and to reinforce the weakened garrison, the Home authorities gave imme-
diate orders for the dispatch of three regiments from Gibraltar, namely. Fuller's (29th), a
portion of Frampton's (30th) and Warburton's (45th) Regiments, and a detachment of
the Royal Artillery. It was nearly a year before these regiments arrived at Louisbourg, May
24, 1746, after being detained for some weeks by weather conditions in the Leeward
Islands and from December to April at Hampton Roads, Virginia, under convoy by
Commodore Charles Knowles.

D'Anville's Expedition

When the news of the capture of Louisbourg reached France, plans were immediately
made for its recapture. The command of the huge armada (nearly half her naval strength)
collected for the purpose was given to De Roye de la Rochefoucauld, Due d'Anville. The
expedition consisted of 11 ships of the line, 20 frigates and 34 other vessels, mostly trans-
ports, and left France on June 22, 1746, having as its objective the recapture of Louis-
bourg and Annapolis Royal, the burning of Boston and the ravaging of the New England
coast and the West Indies. <

From the outset the fleet was plagued by violent storms and ship wrecks, mutiny and
discontent, fire and even lightning, and periods of calm. Disease claimed over 1,2(X). Sable
Island claimed several transports with all on board.

D'Anville sailed into the safe haven of Halifax Harbour and Bedford Basin with only
two ships of the line and four transports, where he died several days later. D'Estournelle
arrived a few days afterward with more ships, and proposed a return to France, a sugges-
tion which met opposition and shortly afterwards he, too, died, from self-inflicted
wounds. When the seven remaining ships of the line left Halifax on October 24 under the
command of de la Jonquere, the Governor of Canada, five of them were floating
hospitals. An attack on Annapolis Royal and a foray on Boston had to be abandoned and
the battered squadron headed for France.

A reference to the great anxiety felt at this time by the people of Boston, who were
standing to arms in hastily organized units, is reflected in the minutes of the First or St.
John's Lodge where we read:

—825—

"Wednesday, Sep'r 24th, 1746, being Lodge Night, a number of Brethren met but by
reason of an ailarm of a French Fleet, the Lodge was not open'd, all business adjourned to
next Lodge Night."

The following year a further attempt was made but was caught by Sir Peter Warren
and Admiral George Anson off Cape Finisterre on May 3, 1747, and annihilated, and
Louisbourg and New England were saved from further attack.

Grand Pre

The Louisbourg expedition was not the only enterprise undertaken by the New
Englanders. In spite of their own efforts to defend themselves against threatened attack,
Governor Shirley dispatched a force of 500 men under Capt. Charles Morris, to Minas, in
December 1746, where they were quartered among the people of Grand Pre. The plan was
to wait until spring, when a further 500 men would arrive, and an attack could be made on
the French at Chignecto or Beaubassin. Col. Arthur Noble and Col. John Gorham, both
of whom had served at Louisbourg, were the leaders of the expedition, and associated
with them in a civil capacity were Major Erasmus J. Philipps and Edward How. The
French under Louis Coulon de Villiers, to whom in 1754, Lieut. George Washington
surrendered at Fort Necessity, fell on the sleeping settlement at 3:30 a.m., in a blinding
snowstorm on February 11, 1747. The sentinels were killed, and the New England soldiers
surprised in their beds. Col. Arthur Noble was slain fighting in his shirt, also his brother,
Ensign Francis Noble and three other officers, Lieuts. Lochmere, Jones and Pickering,
along with 70 men; the wounded and prisoners numbered 100 more, including Capt.
Doane, Lieut. Gerrish, Ensign Thos. Newton and Edward How. The French losses were
small. The fight which has been described as one of the bloodiest and most stubbornly
contested in the wars between the French and English in America, continued until 11 a.m.,
when the New Englanders, through lack of ammunition, were obliged to surrender. The
French who were apparently outnumbered by their opponents, agreed to allow the
honours of war to those not already prisoners.

The Garrison 1745-48

In the meantime, the Home government authorized the formation of two new
regiments to be known as Shirley's (50th) and Pepperrell's (51st), each to consist of 1,(X)0
men and to be part of the regular British Army, regarded as a very high honour, especially
for Colonial troops.

A very considerable number of officers and men who had served during the siege,
re-enlisted in the new Regiments and recruiting was undertaken in the New England Prov-
inces, and in Nova Scotia, St. John's (now Prince Edward) Island and Newfoundland.

That there was Masonic Activity in Louisbourg during the three years between the
capture of the city and its cession back to France is an unsettled question. We do know
that there was much traffic, military and mercantile, between Louisbourg and Boston and
other ports.

That there may have been some activity may be inferred from the re-appointment of
Captain Robert Comins as Provincial Grand Master "for Cape Breton and ye Town of
Louisbourg" by Lord Cranstown, Grand Master of England. On January 14, 1746, we

—826—

find Comins affiliating with the First Lodge in Boston, and in 1749 we find a further
renewal of his appointment by Lord Byron, Grand Master of England.

On the other hand the Military units at Louisbourg in the period 1745-48, did not, it
would seem, have any Chartered Lodges with them. These units were:

Shirley's 50th. Regt. 517 men

Pepperrell's 51st Regt. 417 men
both formed in December 1745.

And after June 1st, 1746, the above vsith the following:

Fuller's (29th) Regt. 613

Frampton's (30th)' 300

Warburton's (45th) 613

Artillery 64

Rangers ( 1 Company)

In these several units there was a considerable number of Freemasons. During the
occupation, we also find a significant number of members of these corps admitted to
Lodges in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire.

In Shirley's (50th) Regiment broken up in 1748, there were

(1) Col. John Bradstreet, already mentioned

(2) Captain Joseph Goldthwaite, transferred from the 1st Massachusetts Regiment.

In Pepperrell's (51st) Regiment we find several men of Masonic interest:

Captain Cadwallader Blayney of Pepperrell's Regiment was a man of considerable
distinction, both as a soldier and a Mason.

Born, May 2, 1720, the son of Cadwallader, 7th Baron Blayney in the peerage of
Ireland, of Blayney Castle, Co. Monaghan. The family was an ancient Welsh family which
claimed descent from Cadwallader, a younger son of a Prince of Wales. The family had
been seated in Ireland since the reign of Elizabeth.

Following the cashiering of Lieut. Col. Ryan, Major Mercer being absent in London,
Pepperrell placed the regiment under the command of his senior Captain.

He was promoted Major on February 25, 1747, and appointed to Shirley's Regiment.

His next promotion was to the Coldstream Guards, June 26, 1753, Brevet Colonel
1761; Colonel of the 38th Regiment 1766; Major-General 1765.

He succeeded to the family title in 1761 as 9th Baron Blayney, was promoted Major
General in 1765 and later Lieut. General and Commander in Chief, in Munster, which
post he held until his death December 13, 1782.

He was married December 20, 1767 to Elizabeth Eloise, daughter of Thomas Tipping
of Beauheu, Co. Louth. There were four children of the marriage

(1) Cadwallader,-Davis, 10th Baron

(2) Andrew Thomas, 11th Baron: Col. 89th Foot and Lieut. -General,
Grand Senior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Ulster, 1809

—827-

(3) Sophia, married 1788, John Armstrong

(4) Mary

The peerage became extinct in 1874. Lord Blayney was initiated into Masonry when
young, but no record has been found of the Lodge in which the event took place.

He served as first Master of the ("Moderns") New Lodge, Horn Tavern, West-
minster, No. 313, April 4, 1764, now Royal Alpha No. 16.

He was elected Grand Master of the Moderns in 1764, continuing in office for two
years. In 1766, he was exalted as a Royal Arch Mason and immediately founded the first
Grand Chapter.

He was elected Grand Master of Ireland on May 6, 1768, but resigned June 24 of the
same year.

According to Parons, biographer of Pepperrell, Blayney on September 15, 1747 was
"a man of some distinction at home, and a favorite" of the Colonel. One of his letters to
Pepperrell written 18 Aug. 1746, contains the following: "I beg you will be so good as to
remember your promise . . . that I may go to New England this winter, as I long greatly to
see it; and could I have the pleasure of attending you to Old England, as I hear you are
going, it would give me great pleasure, as I am intimately acquainted with several persons
at court, whom you will be obliged to see, as Lords in waiting to his Majesty, and the Duke
of Richmond who is a personal friend, and I am sure will esteem it a particular favor." In
reply Pepperell says "Before I go to England I shall endeavor to see you, and should be
pleased to have you travel with me, and to serve you at all times." The above would lead
us to think that Blayney had not previously been in New England and he may have
reached Louisbourg directly from England. We have not run across his name as a visitor in
Boston, either in the press or in Masonic records.

Blayney was in command of the regiment when Pepperrell left for Boston that
autumn and until Mercer returned from England some months later, having being
promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. Some months later Blayney was gazetted Major in
Shirley's regiment, the 50th. Thus he can be said to have "served with distinction"
in America although he was probably not "promoted to be a captain for bravery at
Louisbourg."

Lieut. Robert MacKinnon was made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, on
October 13, 1746, when home from St. Kitts, on recruiting duty in Philadelphia. One of
his name was Colonel of the 35th Foot about 1770.

Nathan Whiting - bom 1724, graduated at Yale at the head of his class; served as Ensign
in Wooster's Company in Wolcott's Connecticut Regiment in the Siege of 1745; trans-
ferring in December to the 51st Regiment and serving until July 1, 1746.

He served as Colonel in the campaigns against the French and Indians 1755-60
including the attack on Montreal.

He was a Charter member and first Junior Warden of Hiram Lodge No. 1 in 1750,
and was present at the dinner in Boston on January 31, 1758 in honour of the Earl of
Loudoun, late Grand Master of England. Whiting was W.M., in 1765. He was a customs
official at New Haven and died in 1771.

—828—

(His portrait is in the Connecticut Hist. Society at Hartford and in the Louisbourg
Museum).

Captain Jonathan Prescott, under surgeon to the Surgeon General, was made a
Mason in the First Lodge, Boston on January 14, 1746/47. Born May 24, 1725, married
1st Mary Vassall March 10, 1747, dau. Hon. William Vassall; 2nd Ann Blackden. He
settled in Nova Scotia after the siege.

Captain Estes Hatch - On the same occasion Captain Estes Hatch and six others were
made (I. Mass. p. 440); "upon considerations of their speedy departure, it was agreed to
proceed to ballot for the above candidates when all passing unanimously in the affirma-
tive, made Masons in due form."

Previously to the siege he commanded a Troop of Horse in Boston. In 1759, he was
promoted to Brigadier-General.

He was a prominent citizen of Boston. He resided at Dorchester on an extensive
estate comprising 60 acres. He married Mary, dau. of Rev. Benjamin Rolfe, November
9, 1716.

He died in 1759.

Lieut. Beamsley Perkins Glazier of Pepperrell's Regiment had a long and active mili-
tary career. Born in England in 1722 and came to America while young, and was a
carpenter by trade.

In February 1744 he was commissioned an Ensign in the 5th Massachusetts or Essex
County Regiment. Promoted Captain 1745. He was the leader of forty volunteers who
attacked and captured the Island battery at Louisbourg.

Made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, January 14, 1747. We find him a visitor to
St. Patrick's Lodge, Johnstown, N. Y., September 6, 1770.

On March 8, 1757, joined the 60th Royal American Regiment and commanded a
Company in the 4th Battalion.

On December 14, 1764, he, along with Captain Thomas Falconer and others, was
granted 20,000 acres along St. John River in New Brunswick near the present Maugerville.
He visited Halifax in 1764-65 and New York 1766 to promote the organization of a settle-
ment under the auspices of the "St. John River Society". In July 1766, the sloop "Peggy
and Molly" sailed from Newburyport, calling at Portsmouth, where she took on Col.
Glazier and his baggage and five millwrights bound for the St. John River. In August 1767
he was recalled to his Regiment. (N.B. Hist. Soc. Coll. No. 6, 1905, p. 343)

The list of the proprietors included Rev. Dr. John Ogilvie, William Spry, William
Sheriff, William Johnson, Philip J. Livingstone, Isaac Wilkins, Daniel Claus, Samuel
Hollandt, Guy Johnson, Frederick Haldimand, Jr., and Charles Morris, Jr. Glazier
disposed of his rights to Major (later General) John Coffin in October 1767.

In the War of Independence, Glazier served at Pensacola and elsewhere, and was
promoted Lieut. Colonel of the 4th Battalion. At the Peace in 1783, the 3rd and 4th
Battalions were disbanded.

—829—

Col. Glazier afterwards sailed for England and is said to have died on the voyage.
One of his Executors was John Charles Lucena, of Albion Place, Surrey, England,

Captain Joshua Loring was born in Boston in 1716 and went to sea in 1737. In 1744 he
was Master of a brigantine privateer and while cruising near Louisbourg was taken by two
French Men-of-War. He was the confidential messenger of Governor Shirley to the
Admiralty in London, March, 1745, seeking assistance from the British Navy for the
attack on Louisbourg. (McLennan p. 143). He arrived in London, March 16, 1745,
performed his duty and left for home the same day. In 1752 he purchased an estate in
Roxbury. In 1757 he was commissioned Captain in the British Navy, was Commodore of
the Naval forces on Lakes Champlain and Ontario and at the close of the war returned to
Roxbury. In the Revolution he sided with the Loyalists and at the evacuation of Boston
went to England where he died in 1 78 1 .

His two twin sons, Joshua, Jr., and Benjamin, at the close of the War, went to
England and to Nova Scotia. Another son. Commodore John Loring, had a very disting-
uished career in the British Navy.

Captain Joshua Loring was an active Mason and attended the St. John's Day dirmer,
December 27th, 1753 (Mass. I, p. 28) and was a Charter member of Massachusetts Lodge
in 1770, its first Secretary and its Master in 1772 (Mass. I, 228, 236).

Captain Henry Sherburne transferred from Moore's New Hampshire Regiment and
previously mentioned.

Captain John Tufton Mason also from Moore's New Hampshire Regiment and
previously mentioned.

Ensign John Loggin transferred from the New Hampshire Regiment and noted
previously.

John Eyre formerly Adjutant of the New Hampshire Regiment.

Captain Joseph Sherburne who had served in Col. Samuel Moore's New Hampshire
Regiment during the siege was made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, November 12,
1746.

Lieut. Jeremiah Wheelwright of the same regiment was made a Mason in St. John's
Lodge, Portsmouth, N. H., on November 3, 1748.

Lieut. Thomas Newton formerly of Waldo's Regiment was made a Mason in St. John's
Lodge, Boston, on January 13, 1748. He served at Grand Pre in 1746-47, and removed to
Halifax in 1749.

Lieut. Benjamin Stansbury was made in the First Lodge, February 11, 1747 (I Mass.
p. 400).

Col. Samuel Moore who may have remained at Louisbourg after the siege, was made a
Mason in St. John's Lodge, No. 1, Portsmouth, January 15, 1748.

—830—

David Wooster was born near Stratford, Conn., March 2nd, 1710-11. After graduation
from Yale in 1738, he served as a Lieutenant of the Connecticut Colony sloop "Defense"
cruising between Cape Hatteras, Virginia, and Cape Cod, Mass., protecting fishermen
and traders against the depredations of Spanish raiders and privateers in "the War of
Jenkin's Ear", In May 1742 he was promoted to the command of the "Defense".

In the Louisbourg expedition he served as a Captain, commanding a company in the
Connecticut contingent, becoming senior Captain at the end of the siege.

He was one of an escort of twenty who accompanied the prisoners to France, being
assigned to the flag-ship "Launceston" which transported the officers and their families,
leaving on July 4th, 1745, in a convoy of eleven ships.

This ship proceeded to London where he and his brother officers were feted and
honoured in recognition of the great achievement of the colonial troops in the capture of
Louisbourg. He was also appointed in December 1745 a Captain in Pepperreirs new
Regiment. It would seem probable that while in London (September to November 9, 1745)
he was made a Freemason.

On his return to Connecticut he was employed on recruiting service in that State and
in December 1745 married a daughter of the President of Yale, Mary Clap, then 15 years
of age, his own age being thirty-five.

Wooster was on duty with his Regiment at Louisbourg from April 1747 to February
1749 and on the cession of that city back to France in 1748, he returned to New Haven in
July 1749.

On August 12th, 1750, the Grand Lodge at Boston "At Ye Petition of sundry
Brothers (including Whiting) at Newhaven in Connecticut" the charter for the present-day
Hiram Lodge, No. 1 was granted, naming David Wooster as first Master. Among his asso-
ciates were Nathan Whiting and Joseph Goldthwaite, brother officers at the first siege of
Louisbourg, at Louisbourg during the period 1747 to 1749.

In 1755 he was made a Colonel in the Provincial Army and served in the Campaign of
1755-63 against the French including Quebec in 1759.

He took a leading part in the Revolutionary War, and succeeded to the command of
Montgomery's Army at Quebec, after the death of the latter. He was later appointed
Major-General in the Connecticut militia and fell mortally wounded while leading an
attack at Ridgefield, near Norwalk. A memorial bearing the Square and Compasses stands
over the spot where he fell April 27, 1777, while harrying the rear guard of the British
troops that had raided Danbury and New Haven. He died May 2, 1777, at Danbury.

Bro. James R. Case writes "We read on his monument in Danbury that "... Impressed,
while a stranger in a foreign land, with the necessity of some tie that should unite all
mankind in a Universal Brotherhood, he returned to his native country, and procured
from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, a charter, and first introduced into
Connecticut, that Light which has warmed the widow's heart and illumined the orphan's
pathway."

"From that it has been assumed that he was made a Mason in London where he
sojourned during September and October 1745, and that he may have been made in St.

—831—

James Lodge in London by Lord Cranston, Grand Master. Another claim was that he was
made in a Lodge at Dover."

Capt. Samuel Gardner of Pepperreil's 51st Regiment was sent on recruiting duty in
Massachusetts in 1746. One of this name appears as an active member of Massachusetts
Lodge in 1758.

Joseph Goldthwaite was born in Boston in 1706, joined the Artillery Company in 1730,
promoted sergeant in 1738, Captain (March 20, 1745) and Adjutant 1745 in the 1st
Massachusetts (York Co.) Regiment.

A merchant and goldsmith in Boston, he was, along with David Wooster, a founder
in August 1750 of Hiram Lodge No. 1, New Haven, Conn.

He was a landowner in New Haven in 1751-54. As a Major he served in the French
and Indian Wars. He was present at a St. John's Day Banquet June 24, 1757 and on
several later occasions (Mass. I, p. 50).

He retired in 1773 to Weston in Western Massachusetts. He died March 1, 1780
(Stark p. 356) in New York City.

His son Joseph served in the 2nd siege of Louisbourg in 1758, listed as on half pay
with Pepperreil's Foot at Fort Philip, Minorca in 1759.

Jehosaphat Starr of Middletown, Conn. A member of the Louisbourg garrison in 1747,
was in 1754 referred to as "an old and experienced Mason," of more than "seven years
of age".

Nathan Payson Ensign in Col. Willard's 4th Mass. Regiment was given a Military and
Masonic funeral when he died as a Colonel at Hartford, Conn.

William Tyler, closely identified with the expedition, was a merchant of Boston, who
married Pepperreil's sister Jane. Tyler was made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, on
February 11, 1750. S. W. 1st Lodge, 1752; S. W. Massachusetts Lodge 1771-2 (I Mass. p.
20 &c)

Captain Benjamin Ives of Col. Hall's Essex County Regiment was made a Mason in the
First Lodge, Boston, August 10, 1745. He later came to Halifax with the Hon. Edward
Cornwallis in June 1749.

Mention should also be made of Lieut. Col. Richard Gridley of the Train of Artillery,
who was made, or admitted, a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, January 22, 1745/46,
and was its Master in 1757, 1763 and 1764.

He was a famous engineer and artillerist of Colonial and Revolutionary times, having
planned fortifications upon Governor's Island and Castle Island in Boston Harbour, at
Gloucester, the Kennebec River and at Halifax. He was entrusted by Pepperrell with the
engineering works for the reduction of Louisbourg, erecting all the batteries required and
winning his first military laurels. In 1755, he entered the Regular Army as Lieut. Colonel
and Chief Engineer.

In 1756 he joined the Crown Point Expedition and planned the fortifications around

—832—

Lake George. He took part in the second siege of Louisbourg, 1758, and commanded the
Provincial Artillery at the siege of Quebec, 1759. It was Gridley's corps that dragged up to
the Plains of Abraham the only two field pieces used in the Battle on the British side. For
his distinguished services he was given the Magdalen Islands, and half-pay as a British
officer. For several years he resided on the islands, but in 1762 removed to Boston, and
established an iron-smelting business at Sharon.

On the outbreak of the Revolution, he joined the patriot army. He laid out the
defences on Breed's Hill, which were the chief artillery support in the Battle of Bunker
Hill, 1775. In the same year he was promoted Major-General in the American Army. He
died at Canton, Mass., in June 1796, aged 86 years.

Gridley also served as Master in the Masters' Lodge, 1756, 1763 and 1764. He was
J.G. Warden in 1760, and S.G. Warden in 1763 and 1764. From 1768 to 1787 he was
Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge. On numerous occasions we find him constitu-
ting Lodges under special commissions.

Major Thomas Gardiner of the Artillery was made a Mason in St. John's Lodge, Ports-
mouth, N. H., on August 31, 1748.

Col. John Gorham a native of New England, was sent to Annapolis with a detachment of
Rangers in 1745. He was Lieut. -Colonel of his father's regiment in the expedition against
Louisbourg, and on the death of his father at Louisbourg, was promoted Colonel. He
commanded the Boston troops at Grand Pre with Colonel Noble. He later commanded a
company of Indian rangers raised in New England for service in Acadia and came with
them from Annapolis to Chebucto (Halifax) in 1749, and was probably a member of
Comwallis' first Council July 31st, 1749. He was wounded in action at St. Croix, near
Windsor, in 1751, and on recovery went to England for compensation. He died in London
in December 1751 (Akins, p. 163). His brother, Joseph, had a very notable military career
and was made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, on January 10, 1749/50 (Mass. Proc.
I, p. 400).

Matthew Thornton - The statement has frequently been made that Matthew Thornton,
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence served at Louisbourg in 1745 as a
surgeon in the New Hampshire Regiment, and that he was made a Mason in the "Louis-
bourg Lodge" attached to the 28th Regiment of Foot. (Dr. G.P. Brown in Masonic
Craftsman, May 1933, p. 246). After an exhaustive search of the original muster rolls, we
have been unable to discover his name. The 28th Regiment was not at the siege of 1745,
but at the second siege of 1758. His name does not, however, occur in the list of Masons
made in that Lodge returned to St. John's Grand Lodge, Boston, following the siege of
1758. It is also claimed that he was a Mason at Louisbourg in January 1746, and a 32°
Mason by Baron Von Steuben at Valley Forge in 1778! His name is not among the
membership lists of St. John's Lodge, Portsmouth, nor as a visitor.

In the Masonic Messenger, for November 1937, p. 6, Dr. Gilbert Patten Brown made
the further statement:

"At Louisbourg there was a Masonic Lodge working with the Royal forces. It had
been chartered by the Grand Lodge of England and was known in the language of the
army as the "Louisbourg Lodge". General William Pepperrell was its Worshipful

—833—

Master during the Siege of Louisbourg. Here General Samuel Waldo, Col. David
Dunbar, Capt. James Yates, Capt. Esek Hopkins, Col. David Wooster, Col. Jedediah
Preble, Dr. Matthew Thornton and other New England patriots of note were made
Masons in 'due, ancient and ample form'."

Thus far no evidence has been found to support the claim that Pepperrell or Waldo or
Dunbar or Yates or Hopkins were ever made Masons. The Louisbourg Lodge was
warranted by Jeremy Gridley in the 28th Regiment of Foot in 1758, and none of the above
served at Louisbourg in that siege, nor were associated with that particular Lodge (I Mass.
59, 60).

The evidence will show that there were two men of the same name.

The first Matthew Thornton was born in Ireland before 1714, the son of James
Thornton, and came to Worcester, Mass., when he was three or four years old. In 1740 the
family removed to Londonderry, N. H. The son studied medicine in Massachusetts, and in
1745 was appointed under-sergeant in Col. Sylvester Richardson's (Richmond's?)
Regiment, and went to Louisbourg.

On his return in 1746, he practised medicine at Londonderry and served as a Colonel
of Militia.

He represented Londonderry in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Provincial congresses of New
Hampshire and was elected its President in 1775 and served in the 5th Congress, and when
that body resolved itself into a State Legislature, he became Speaker. Shortly afterward he
became a member of the Upper House.

In 1779 he removed to Exeter and in 1780 to Merrimac where in 1784 he obtained the
exclusive right to operate a ferry, still known as Thornton's Ferry.

He died in 1803, while on a visit to his daughter at Newburyport, Mass.

There is no record or evidence of his Masonic membership, although the late W. L.
Boyden says: "Traditional and other evidence establishes that he was a Mason." (Mas.
Doctors of Colonial Times, Amer. Lodge of Research, vol. 2, p. 97).

The second Matthew Thornton was the son of another James Thornton, and was
born in New Hampshire in December 1746, and resided at Thornton, where he was active
in local affairs and was a Captain of the Militia.

While Col. Thornton represented Londonderry in the 3rd Provincial Congress, Capt.
Thornton sat in the same Convention, as representative for Holderness and Thornton. He
was also a member of the 4th N. H. Congress and was appointed to assist in raising volun-
teers "to guard the Western frontier".

At the Battle of Bennington, August 1777, he appeared among the British, apparently
a willing prisoner. He was arrested by N. H. authorities and detained for two years, and
then tried and acquitted. The evidence showed that he had gone to look over some land
which he had bought or wished to buy, and had been surprised and taken prisoner by the
British, and compelled to drive one of their ammunition wagons. His neighbours finding
him thus employed supposed he had been secretly in sympathy with the enemy. Even his
trial and acquittal did not allay suspicion. To avoid further taunts and trouble he secretly
made his way by sea to St. Andrew's in New Brunswick where he joined the Penobscot

—834—

Association and later received a grant of lands on the St. Croix River (in the old parish of
St. Stephen). There the story got abroad that he was one of the signers of the Declaration.
He died in 1824, broken in health, and was buried by his Lodge. His grave is not marked.

Among his effects still preserved are a large pewter dish with the family coat-of-arms,
and a Masonic device which is said to have helped him in his flight.

In the records of the General Congress at Philadelphia in 1776, which adopted the
Declaration of Independence, mention is made of "The Hon, Matthew Thornton, Esq., a
delegate from New Hampshire." Though not present when the Declaration was adopted
and not even a member of the Congress until four months later, he was allowed to add his
signature.

(The above is a summary of an article in Acadiensis, St. John, N. B., vol. 1, p. 131,
by James Vroom, P. G. Master, New Brunsv^ck, a most painstaking research authority).

(A comparison of about a dozen signatures of the two men, with the signature to the
Declaration leaves, the question in some doubt, mih the weight in favour of the Colonel).

EsEK Hopkins born in Scituate, Rhode Island, in 1718, married Desire Burroughs in 1741,
and became head of a considerable merchant fleet. Said to have been a Captain in the
Royal Navy at the time of the first Siege.

Hopkins' name appears in a list of 61 inhabitants of Rhode Island who in 1759
recommended that the Masonic Lodge at Newport should be authorized by the Legislature
to raise money by a lottery (Mass. I, 467). Hopkins was appointed a Brigadier-General of
land forces at the outbreak of the Revolution but soon afterwards was appointed to
command the first Continental Fleet December 4, 1775, and on April 6, 1776, met and
defeated the British man-of-war GLASGOW.

FULLER'S (29rH) Regiment left Gibraltar in October 1745, but did not arrive at Louis-
bourg until May 1746 where it remained until 1749 when it was transferred to the new
settlement of Halifax. In 1748, Col. Fuller was succeeded by Col. Peregrine T. Hopson,
three Companies of Frampton's (30th) Regiment being incorporated with it.

At this time Fuller's (29th) Regiment had no Masonic Lodge attached to it. An Irish
warrant. No. 322, was issued to it on May 3rd, 1759, and is still in use, the Lodge being
known as Lodge Glittering Star. The Regiment was later in Nova Scotia from 1765 to 1769
when it was transferred to Boston, where Lodge No. 322 participated in the conferring of
the Royal Arch and Knight Templar degrees on a number of candidates on August 28,
1769, and also in the formation in December of the same year, of the Massachusetts Grand
Lodge, and the installation of Joseph Warren as Grand Master (Grand Lodge of Ireland,
vol. II, p. 327; I Mass. p. 226).

The minutes of the earlier occasion are the earliest known minutes of the conferring
of the K. T. degree.

The Regiment returned to England in 1773 but later served in Canada from 1776 to
1787; and has since served with great distinction in all parts of the world. Its Lodge
"Glittering Star" will next year celebrate its 200th anniversary.

The Regiment is now known as the 1st Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment.

—835—

Jonathan Fuller "was ballotted in and being a transient person was introduc'd and in
due form made a Mason" on October 25, 1748 in the First Lodge, Boston, and raised in
the Master's Lodge on July 7, 1749 (Shepard p. 50; Johnson 349, 357).

Frampton's (3(>rH) Regiment now the 1st Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment,
was raised in 1694 as a marine regiment, and served as such until 1713. It was one of the
regiments which defended Gibraltar against the Spaniards in 1727-28.

On May 30th, 1738, when the unit was known as Col. Harward's Regiment of Foot, a
warrant No. 85 was granted to the brethren in the Regiment by the Grand Lodge of
Ireland.

In 1745, 300 men of the Regiment were sent to Louisbourg, arriving in May 1746,
where they remained until incorporation with Fuller's 29th; meanwhile the remaining
portion of the Regiment had again become marines, serving in that capacity in Admiral
Anson's action off Cape Finisterre against the French under de Jonquiere on May 3,

1747.

It would seem most likely that the Lodge warrant went back to Canterbury in
England, the Regiment's headquarters and thp centre of recruiting activities.

The 30th served during the Seven Years' War in descents on the French co^t of
Cherbourg, St. Malo and Belle Isle.

The minute book of the Lodge from November 1757 to 1760 is in the Library of the
Grand Lodge of Iowa, recording meetings held in that period at Reading, at Canterbury
and at Hilsey Barracks in England. How the minute book reached Iowa is somewhat of a
mystery.

The 30th (and its Lodge) served in one campEiign in the Carolinas in 1781 and then
was transferred to Jamaica. The Lodge can be traced to 1823.

A second Irish warrant No. 535 was issued in 1776. While the Regiment was stationed
on Long Island, N.Y., in 1783, it issued certificates to one Isaac Reed as a Royal Arch
Super Excellent Mason, and as a Knight of the Red Cross (Hist, of G. L. Ireland vol. II,
pp. 293, 325).

Warburton's (45th) Regiment

While there was not at this time a Masonic Lodge in Warburton's Regiment, there
was undoubtedly a number of Freemasons among the officers.

Captain Alexander Murray was the son of Sir William Murray of Black barony in
Scotland. He was appointed an Ensign in 1739, and Captain in Warburton's Regiment in
1743. On the occasion of the formation of the Second Lodge in Halifax in March 1751 he
acted as D. G. M.

From 1754-5, he commanded at Fort Edward, now Windsor, and was in charge of the
expulsion of the Acadians at that point. He took part in the second siege of Louisbourg in
1758, and as Lieut. Colonel commanded the grenadier companies of the 22nd, 40th and
45th Regiments at the siege of Quebec in 1759. He was an intimate friend of Wolfe, who
was god-father to his son, James Wolfe Murray. The boy became a Scottish Judge.

He commanded the 48th Regiment at Martinique under Rodney and died there in 1762.

—836—

Charles Lawrence entered Montagu's (1 1th) Regiment in 1727, and was sent to America
in 1729 where he saw much service against the Indians on the borders of New York,
Virginia and Massachusetts. From 1733 to 1737 he served in the West Indies. In 1738 he
was a Military attache at the War Office in London doing confidential work and carrying
dispatches, often at great risk.

In 1741 he was appointed Captain-Lieutenant in Houghton's (54th) Regiment and in
1742 Captain. He served in the Flanders Campaign and was wounded at Fontenoy.

In 1746 he was promoted Major and appointed to Hopson's (45th) Regiment in
Garrison at Louisbourg. He accompanied Hopson to Halifax in 1749 and was sworn in as
a member of the Council by Cornwallis, the Governor. He was appointed Lieut. Colonel
of the 40th Regiment in 1150.

After notable service at Chignecto in connection with the attack on Fort Beausejour,
and the erection of Fort Lawrence, he was returned to Halifax to assist Governor Hopson.

In 1753, he founded Lunenberg and on Hopson returning to England in 1754 acted as
Lieutenant-Governor becoming Governor in 1756. In 1755 he ordered the expulsion of the
recalcitrant Acadians and in the same year was active in promoting the expedition which
captured Fort Beausejour.

Leaving Monckton in charge of the government, he went to Louisbourg as Colonel of
the 3rd Battalion of the 60th Royal Americans, and one of Amherst's Brigadier-Generals.
In May he summoned the first Legislative Assembly of the Province, which he convened
on October 2, 1758.

He contracted pneumonia and died on October 19, 1760. His hatchment hangs in St.
Paul's Church, Halifax.

He was Master of the First Lodge in Halifax 1752-60, and visited Boston in January
1757 when he was present at the dinner in honour of the Earl of Loudoun. In the same
year he was a petitioner for the Provincial Grand Lodge, warrant No. 65 (Ancients) issued
December 27, 1757.

Nova Scotia Records

Among the records of Freemasonry in Halifax and Nova Scotia 1749-58, we find a
considerable number of brethren who had served at Louisbourg and who later affiliated
with the earliest lodges in the new capital, or were petitioners for new Lodges in 1757.
While not conclusive evidence of Masonic activity at Louisbourg in the period 1745 to
1749, we list a number of these brethren whose names are found in the Halifax records.

George Gerrish Lieutenant in the York County Regiment in 1745 came to Halifax and
became prominent in the new Town. He was a member of the Lodge No. 1 (Moderns) in
1770 and is listed in Calcott's list of subscribers 1769 as a Past Warden and Second
Lieutenant in the Independent Company in the Navy Yard 1773. He was probably a
brother of Benjamin and Joseph Gerrish, also prominent settlers at the time from New
England.

John Finney Ensign in Col. Richmond's Connecticut Regiment 1745, is listed as a P.M.
of Lodge No. 2, Halifax, in Calcott's List 1769. He was W.M. of Lodge No. 1 (Moderns)
in 1770; Captain of Halifax Town Regiment, Militia, 1773. (N.S. Hist. 287, 302).

—837—

Jonathan Hoar a native of Massachusetts, born 1719. Ensign in Moulton's Regiment at
Louisbourg 1745. Major under Winslow at Beausejour 1755.

Petitioner in 1757 for warrant for Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia (Ancients). Present
with Governor Charles Lawrence at banquet January 31, 1757, in honour of the Earl of
Loudoun, late Grand Master of England. Removed to Annapolis Royal 1759, and repre-
sented County in Provincial Assembly 1759-70. He was also present at St. John's Day
dinner at Ballard's, Boston, on December 27, 1760. He served as a Judge of the Court of
Common Pleas from 1762 until his death in 1771 (Mass. I, p. 50, 406; Calnek).

John Huston

Captain in Col. Willard's (Worcester Co.) 4th Massachusetts Regiment joined St.
John's Lodge, Boston, November 22, 1749 (I Mass. p. 400). He served with the Massa-
chusetts forces at Beausejour 1755, and left the army to become a trader at Fort Lawrence.
He was elected a member of the Legislature in 1759, and died at Canard, King's Co.,
N.S., aged 85 years. (N.S. Hist. Coll. XX p. 39).

Joshua Mauger was an English merchant and army contractor at Louisbourg during the
occupation period and came to Halifax in 1749.

He was a practitioner in 1757 for the Provincial Grand Lodge Warrant.

He returned to England in 1761, where he became the Agent for the Province, and
was elected to the British House of Commons in 1762.

The Peace of Aix-la-Chappelle

In 1748, the British government agreed to end the conflict, in which it had gained
much by its military operations. Amid demonstrations of disappointment, particularly in
New England, the great fortress of Louisbourg was handed back to France in exchange for
Madras in far-away India. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle, signed on October 18, 1748,
by Austria, the Netherlands, France and Britain, among other terms, ceded Isle Royale to
France.

This action, on the part of Britain, caused wide-spread dissatisfaction, and undoubt-
edly sewed the seeds of resentment in the American colonies and prepared the way for the
approaching struggle for independence.

On June 30th, 1749, the fortress was handed over to the new French Governor des
Herbiers, by Col. Peregrine T. Hopson, and Shirley's and Pepperrell's Regiments were
transferred to New England and disbanded. Hopson's 29th and Warburton's 45th
Regiments were transferred to the new settlement of Halifax where they were employed in
clearing the site of the new capital. In 1750, the 29th was transferred to Ireland and its
place taken by Lascelles' 47th Foot.

The Next Ten Years 1748-58

Following the cession of Louisbourg the commercial importance of Louisbourg
quickly revived. Its harbour was crowded with the ships of England and of New England
and the trading that went on in the manufactured goods of France, the products of the
West Indies, and of New England, including the growing coastal fisheries of Nova Scotia,

—838—

was enormous. Over 2,000 fishing vessels, manned by over 15,000 men were reported as
engaged in this industry in 1757.

On the other hand, the proposal to found the city of Halifax in 1749 inspired a series
of plots and conspiracies against the peace of the English settlements in Nova Scotia,
evidenced by the refusal everywhere by the French inhabitants to take the oath of allegiance
and the constant attacks on settlers by Indians led by French priests.

In the period 1748-53, 500 peaceful English settlers were murdered in this internecine
war inspired by the French at Louisbourg, a circumstance which inevitably led to the stern
measure of deportation of the French Acadians in 1755, to Louisiana, carried out on the
advice of Shirley by Lieut. -Governor Lawrence and the capture of Fort Beausejour and
other French strong points by New England forces.

Moreover it was not long before the French in Canada began their intrusion into the
Ohio Valley as far down as the site of the present city of Pittsburgh. Lieut. George
Washington, then aged 21 years, was sent in December 1753 by Governor Robert Din-
widdle of Virginia to the French Commandant with a demand for the latter' s withdrawal
but altogether without success.

The tension increased rapidly as a series of forts was built on the uncertain frontier
but the French poured in their troops and demolished the half- finished redoubts. Wash-
ington hastily threw up Fort Necessity but after serious losses on both sides, was obliged to
surrender the fort and retire on July 4th, 1754, an event which however only spurred the
Colonies to united effort to drive French power forever from the continent.

Eventually two British regiments, the 44th and the 48th under Major-General Brad-
dock, were sent to the assistance of the colonial forces, arriving at Hampton, Virginia, in
January 1755. At the end of March a Council of War was held at Alexandria attended by
the Governors of Massachusetts (Shirley), Virginia (Dinwiddle), New York (Delancey)
and other colonies.

The plan of campaign agreed upon was to attack the French at four points.

The first force led by Braddock was to move against Fort Duquesne, the modern
Pittsburgh.

The second force, under Col. William Johnson, included Shirley's and Pepperrell's
quickly re-established Regiments, was to proceed against Niagara.

The third expedition was against Crown Point; while the fourth body, under Col.
Robert Monckton, was to attack Fort Beausejour in Nova Scotia, the only one successful
in attaining its objective.

The disastrous defeat of Braddock in June 1755 made all concerned realize the
inadequacy of the plans, which entirely left out the key positions of Louisbourg and
Quebec.

The climax came when the French Court at Versailles invited privateers to prey upon
the maritime trade of New England, with bounties from the Royal Treasury to all ship
owners and crew, for guns, cargos and prisoners taken. Fortunately at this juncture the
elder William Pitt came into power in England and he determined on greater and bolder
measures which included the capture of both Louisbourg and Quebec and the conquest of

—839—

all French colonies in America and India, and on May 18, 1756, England, after several
years of open hostility, formally declared war.

The story of Masonic activities in this interval of nearly ten years has been covered at
least in part by Bro. Robert W. Reid in his article on Freemasonry in the Champlain Valley
(Amer. Lodge of Research, vol. 3) and we need make no further reference here to this
period except to point out that it was in this interval that the new Grand Lodge of the
"Ancients" was formed in London 1751 , a Grand Lodge allied with the Irish and Scottish
Grand Lodges, and which had a very considerable share in the propagation, particularly
through military Lodges, of Masonry in North America in the period 1755 to 1785.

Earl of Loudoun's Expedition

On February 17, 1756, the Right Hon. John Campbell, Fourth Earl of Loudoun, was
appointed to take command of affairs in North America, superseding Governor William
Shirley, as Commander-in-Chief of the British forces.

Born in 1705, he entered the army in 1727 with a commission in the Scots Greys, and
succeeded to the title in 1731 . In 1745 he raised a regiment of Highlanders and participated
in suppressing the Rebellion in Scotland in that year, being Adjutant General of Northern
forces.

His military career was not distinguished by efficiency, and even his courage and
integrity have been questioned. An American wit said of him that he was like King George
on signposts — "always on horseback but never advancing."

In February 1756 he was appointed to take command of the Army in America. In the
fall he summoned the governors of the British American colonies to meet him in New York.

Lord Loudoun was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England from April 15,
1736 to May 3, 1739. During his term of office he issued a commission appointing John
Hammerton as Provincial Grand Master for South Carolina on April 15, 1736 (Johnson
p. 152) and to Robert Tomlinson as Provincial Grand Master for New England on
December 7, 1736.

On January 31, 1757, he was present at a banquet at Concert Hall, Boston, to
celebrate the Feast of St. John the Evangelist. On this occasion, the Grand Master Jeremy
Gridley presided, and among those present was His Excellency Charles Lawrence,
Governor of Halifax, and a long list of distinguished members of the Fraternity including
Richard Gridley. Abraham Savage, Jonathan Hoar, Joshua Winslow, Nathan Whitting,
Oliver Noyes and others, who had served in the expeditions to Nova Scotia in 1745-46
(Mass. I, p. 49-50).

Previously to this meeting, Captain Harry Charteris and three other officers of the
Earl's staff were made Masons at sight by Jeremy Gridley, at one of the most notable
meetings held in the early days of the Order in America (Johnson p. 336).

While in Boston plans were outlined for a great attack on Louisbourg. In June 1757
the Earl of Loudoun, with transports from New York, arrived at Halifax with 6,000 men
and a month later, Admiral Horborne arrived from England with 5,0(X) more with a large
naval squadron and 6,200 men.

—840—

The Regiments comprising the expedition were:

1st Royals (Sinclair's) with Lodge No. 11 (Irish) 1732 and Lodge No. 74 (Irish)

15th (Amherst's) with Lodge No. 245 (Irish)

17th (Forbes's) with Lodge No. 136 (Irish)

27th (Blakeley's) with Lodge No. 24 (Irish)

28th (Bragg's) with Lodge No. 35 (Irish)

40th (Hopson's) with Lodge No. 42 (Ancients)

42nd (Black Watch) with Lodge No. 195 (Irish)

43rd (Kennedy's) with a Lodge working under dispensation from Lodge No. 136 in the
17th Regiment

45th (Warburton's)

46th (Murray's) with Lodge No. 227 (Irish)

47th (Lascelles') with Lodge No. 192 (Irish)

55th (Perry's) with a Lodge holding the first Scottish Military warrant

60th (Royal Americans) 1st & 2nd Battalions

77th (Montgomerie's)

78th (Eraser's) Highlanders

with the necessary complement of Engineers, Artillery and Rangers.

This great army was encamped in Halifax and vicinity during the summer of 1757,
and it is said that they were chiefly employed in planting cabbages on the slopes of the
citadel, and this seems to have been the chief result of the expedition. When Loudoun
learned of 6,000 troops at Louisbourg, 1 ,300 Indians and a squadron possibly superior to
his, he decided without further inquiry to abandon the undertaking, and sailed away to
New York (Aug. 16th) with part of his troops, leaving in the Province the 28th, 40th, 43rd,
45th, 46th, 47th and 60th Royal Americans.

Of the seven regiments remaining in Halifax, there were active Masonic Lodges in
four of them; namely

40th (Hopson's) with Lodge No. 42 (Ancients)

43rd (Kennedy's) with a Lodge under dispensation from Lodge No. 136 in the 17th Foot.

46th (Murray's) with Lodge No. 227 (Irish)

47th (Lascelles') with Lodge No. 192 (Irish)

Reference to the 40th and 47th Regiments, which served in the siege of Louisbourg in
the following year each with its Lodge, will be made later. A few notes on the 43rd and
46th Regiments and their Lodges should be made here.

The 43rd (Murray's) Foot which had wintered at Annapolis Royal had in its ranks a
Lodge working under dispensation from Lodge No. 136 (Irish) in the 17th Foot with
which Regiment the 43rd Foot had been brigaded at Minorca from March to May 1747,
but more probably when they were together in Halifax in the summer of 1757.

Capt. John Knox in his "Journal of the Campaigns in North America" says under
date July 12, 1758 —

—841 —

"The detachment here (Annapolis Royal) is daily at exercise, nevertheless our time
passes away very heavily and when the calendar does not furnish us with a loyal excuse for
assembling in the evening, we have recourse to a Freemasons' Lodge where we work so
hard that it is inconceivable to think what a quantity of business of great importance is
transacted in a very short space of time."

There is in existence today a certificate granted by "Lodge No. 136" to one Pardon
Sanders, an artificer in the Ordinance, who had resided at Annapolis since 1750, dated
April 30, 1758. This certificate is signed by Joseph Westover, Master, William Whitcome
and Miles Prentis, Wardens, and James Rutherford, Secretary.

Captain John Knox was the son of John Knox, merchant of Sligo, Ireland. He served as
a volunteer in the war which ended in 1748, and for gallant conduct at Val was made an
Ensign in the 48th Regiment in May 1749, being promoted to a Lieutenancy in 1751 and a
Captaincy in January 1761. He probably became a Mason in the Lodge in the 48th
Regiment. He was not at Louisbourg in 1758, but served with his Regiment at Quebec in
1759 and at Montreal in 1760.

Pardon Sanders was of Cornish birth sent out to take the place of Thomas Sampson who
had died leaving a widow. Sanders, who married the widow, was long a leading man in the
community. His descendants in Annapolis County are numerous.

Joseph Westover, William Whitcome, Miles Prentis and James Rutherford were all
members of the 43rd Regiment.

MURRAY'S (46th) Regiment had with it in Halifax, Lodge No. 227. The Regiment raised
in 1741 as Price's (57th) Foot, becoming the 46th in 1748, commanded by the Hon.
Thomas Murray. While in Ireland on March 4, 1752, a warrant was issued to it under the
name of "The Lodge of Social and Military Virtues."

The Regiment was in Halifax from August 1757 to May 1758.

The historian of the corps records that the Lodge, while in Nova Scotia, was "very
active, doing good and effective work, while associated with the brethren throughout the
Province".

Neither the 43rd nor 46th served at Louisbourg but both saw service at Quebec and
Montreal.

It was undoubtedly through the influence and instigation of these Lodges that
warrants for a Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia and two subordinate Lodges were
sought and obtained from the Grand Lodge of the "Ancients" all dated December 27,

1757.

The leader in this movement was undoubtedly Major Erasmus James Philipps of the
40th Regiment appointed by Henry Price of Boston in 1738, and now appointed Provin-
cial grand Master by the "Ancients".

The members of the two "Modern" Lodges in Halifax made a wholesale transfer to
Ancient allegiance, an event which exerted a tremendous and definite influence on
Masonic affairs for the next sixty years.

—842—

Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia

Among the petitioners in 1757 for the Warrant for a Provincial Grand Lodge were the
following, all of whom served at Louisbourg in 1758:

Major Erasmus James Philipps of the 40th Regiment and Provincial Grand Master,
under Henry Price, and now named as the first Provincial Grand Master appointed over-
seas by the Ancients.

Major Alexander Murray of the 45th Regiment in garrison at Louisbourg from
1746-48, now named as Deputy Provincial Grand Master by the "Ancients".

His Excellency ChaAles Lawrence Governor of Nova Scotia, also of the 45th
Regiment and a Brigadier General in the second siege of Louisbourg in 1758.

CoL. Jonathan Hoar who had served at Louisbourg in 1745, and who settled in Halifax
before 1752.

Capt. Joseph Gorham was made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, on January 10,
1749 / 50. He was a brother of Col. John Gorham who commanded the Rangers at the first
siege of Louisbourg in 1745.

He was Major in 1760, and Lieut. Colonel in 1771.

He was a member of the Council of the Province of Nova Scotia 1766-79, and
Governor of Placentia in Newfoundland 1770, 1780.

CoL. Otto Hamilton who had served in the 40th Regiment at Annapolis and had been
present as a visitor when Philipps was initiated in the First Lodge, Boston, in 1737.

As we shall later see, the advent of the Royal Arch degree, and probably of the
Knight Templar degree in Nova Scotia, dates from this invasion of 1757.

The Second Siege of Louisbourg, 1758

Notwithstanding the failure of Loudoun and Holbome in 1757, plans were immediately
made on a much greater scale, with a view to wresting not only Louisbourg, but all of
Canada from the French by the capture of Quebec, Ticonderoga, Fort Duquesne and
Montreal.

Major-General Jeffry Amherst was appointed to replace Loudoun as leader of the
Louisbourg expedition and under him as Brigadiers, were Edward Whitmore, Charles
Lawrence and James Wolfe.

A powerful fleet under Admiral Boscawen assembled at Halifax in May 1758 to
which rendezvous the transports brought over 13,000 men.

The Armada which sailed from Halifax on May 28, 1758, comprised 140 sail
(including 23 ships of the line and 18 frigates and fire ships manned by about 16,000 men).
Against these the French had ten ships of the line.

Eighteen of the English captains had served as recently as 1757 in American waters,
among them

—843—

Rt. Hon. Lord Colville, the first Mason made in Halifax in July 1750, commanding
the "Northumberland" 70 guns;

Captain John Rous commanding the "Sutherland" 50 guns;

Commodore Philip Durell, in command of the "Princess Amelia" 80 guns.

Alexander Lord Colville

Baron Colville in the peerage of Scotland, was born in 1710 and entered the British
Navy at an early age. He was the first initiate in the First Lodge at Halifax July 19, 1750,
receiving his first degree at the hands of Col. Edward Cornwallis, its first Master, and the
founder of Halifax, along with "a number of Navy Gentlemen" belonging to the
"Success". He was "raised" and voted a member of the First Lodge, Boston, on October
24, 1750. He succeeded Henry Price as Master of the Second Lodge, in December 1750,
continuing as W. M., until St. John's Day, June 24, 1752.

At that time he appears as Deputy Grand Master of North America and summoned
the Brethren to attend him at the Grey Hound Tavern in Roxbury, where he held a Grand
Lodge, and the Day was celebrated as usual.

At a meeting of freeholders of Boston, held at Faneuil Hall, May 12, 1752, he was
publicly thanked for his services during the past three years. He left for England a few
months later.

He presented the Second Lodge with a copy of Field's Bible, printed at Cambridge
1683, which is still in possession of the First Lodge.

At Louisbourg he commanded the Northumberland 70 guns, and also served in the
attack on Quebec in 1759, and in the recapture of Newfoundland in 1762, for which he
was promoted to Rear- Admiral. He became Vice Admiral in 1770 in which year he died
May 21, 1770.

He ser\'ed at Halifax from July 1762 until 1768 as Commander in Chief in North
America. (Hist. St. Andrew's Lodge, Halifax, 1920, p. 15; Shepard p. 65)

Dr. Thomas Allen Surgeon of the "Success" was initiated in the First Lodge, Halifax,
along with James Thompson and Lord Colville, on July 19, 1750, and were passed as
Fellow Crafts on August 22, 1750, in the First Lodge, Boston; and as Masters in the
Masters Lodge, Nov. 2, 1750. (I Mass. p. 402; Shepard p. 65).

Thomas Dunckerley probably the most famous English Mason of the 18th Century
served on the "Vanguard" from October 1st, 1757, to March 26, 1761, as a gunner at the
sieges of Louisbourg in 1758 and Quebec in 1759. It is said that his marksmanship was so
effective that Admiral Boscawen rewarded him by appointing him "teacher of the
Mathematics" in addition to his duties as gtmner.

Initiated in 1754 at the Three Tuns Lodge, No. 31, Portsmouth, England, while
serving at Quebec he established a Lodge in the "Vanguard", January 16, 1760, the first
Naval Lodge ever formed. In the same year he installed Col. Simon Eraser of the 78th
Regiment as Provincial Grand Master of "Canada".

He served as Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire 1767, and at different times of

—844—

six other Provinces. In the Royal Arch, he collaborated with Lord Blaney in forming the
Charter of Compact 1766, was a Provincial Grand Superintendent over 18 different
counties, and did more than any other Mason of his time to extend R. A. Masonry.

In 1791 he became the first Grand Master of the Knights Templar of England. He
died in 1795.

Military Lodges at Louisbourg

All but five of the Regiments engaged in the memorable siege of Louisbourg are
known to have had lodges attached to them at the time of the siege, and there is abundant
evidence of Masonic activity there at least during the occupation from 1756 to 1760.

The attacking forc6 consisted of:

Major General Jeffrey Amherst, Commander in Chief

Brigadier General Edward Whitmore

Brigadier General Charles Lawrence

Brigadier General James Wolfe

Train of Artillery, Col. George Williamson

Chief Engineer, Col. John Henry Bastido

Rangers, Lt. Col. George Scott

1st Royals (2nd Battalion) with Lodge No. 74 (Irish 1737)
15th (Amherst's) Foot, with Lodge No. 245 (Irish 1754)
17th (Forbes) Foot, with Lodge No. 136 (Irish 1748)
22nd (Whitmore's) Foot, with Lodge No. 251 (Irish 1754)
28th (Bragg's) Foot, with Lodge No. 35 (Irish 1734)

and a Lodge under dispensation from Boston, Nov. 13, 1758
35th (Otway's) Foot, with Lodge No. 205 (Irish 1749)
40th (Hopson's) Foot, with Lodge No. 42 (Ancients, 1755)
45th (Warburton's) Foot

47th (Lascelles') Foot with Lodge No. 192 (Irish 1748)
48th (Webb's) Foot, with Lodge No. 218 (Irish 1750)
58th (Anstruther's) Foot
60th (Monckton's) Foot, 2nd Battalion
60th (Lawrence's) Foot, 3rd Battalion
78th (Frazer's) Foot, 2nd Battalion
Train of Artillery
Rangers
Engineers

Royal Marine Corps (Boscawen's)
Carpenters (Messerve's)

AU together, army and fleet, there were over 32,000 men employed in the great attack.

Major-General Jeffrey Amherst, its Colonel at the time of the siege of Louisbourg,
was born at Riverhead, Kent, in 1717. He was commissioned as an Ensign in the Guards
in 1731, and in 1742 fought in the Flanders campaign. He was appointed A.D.C. to the
Duke of Cumberland in 1747, and was appointed to command against Louisbourg and
after its capture succeeded Abercrombie as Commander in Chief in America. He captured

—845—

Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759 and Montreal in 1760, which was followed by the
capitulation of Canada. In the following year he received the thanks of Parliament and
was created a Knight of the Bath.

In 1762-63 he failed to quell the Indian uprising under Pontiac and returned to
England. His next post was Governor of Virginia and Colonel of the 60th Regiment, but
in 1768, he quarrelled with the King and resigned these appointments. Reconciliation
followed and the King appointed him Colonel of the 3rd and 60th Regiments, and in 1770
Governor of Guernsey.

In 1772, he was Lieut. -General of Ordnance and acting Commander-in-Chief. His
subsequent career may be summarized as follows: Baron Amherst 1776, General 1778,
Commander in Chief 1793, Field Marshal 1796.

He died at Montreal House in Kent in 1797.

James Wolfe — Perhaps the most distinguished name at Louisbourg was that of James
Wolfe.

When the Hon. Edward Cornwallis, Lieut. Colonel of the 20th Regiment left the
Regiment in 1749 to become Governor of Nova Scotia (where his great zeal for Free-
masonry made itself felt), he was succeeded by Major James Wolfe as Lieut. Colonel.

In December 1748, a warrant had been issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland to erect
a Masonic Lodge in the Regiment No. 63, with Colonel Lord George Sackville as Master,
Lieut. Col. Cornwallis and Captain Milburne as Wardens.

Although there is no record of his initiation, it is generally believed that Wolfe was
made a Mason in Lodge No. 63, 20th Foot, during the Mastership of Lord George Sack-
ville (Grand Lodge of Ireland, Lepper & Crossle, vol. 1, p. 183). Lord Sackville was
Grand Master of Ireland in 1751 and 1752 during the time of service of Wolfe in the 20th
Regiment.

In 1756 the Regiment was augmented by a second battalion which two years later
became the 67th Foot with James Wolfe as Colonel.

His portrait was painted in the latter part of 1758, probably at Bath where he went to
rest after the siege of Louisbourg. The original is in the New Brunswick Museum, Saint
John.

Hon. James Murray was the fifth son of the 4th Lord Elibank, and was bom in 1721. In
1740 he was appointed a Lieutenant in the 15th Foot serving in the West Indies, Flanders
and Brittany, attaining the rank of Captain. At Louisbourg he was Lieut. Colonel of the
15th Regiment, and commanded a brigade. At Quebec he directed the left wing of the
army at the Battle of the Plains. After the surrender of Quebec he was left in command
and defended the city against the French in 1760. Governor of Quebec in 1760, and of
Canada 1763-66.

Lieut. General 1772; Governor of Minorca in 1774 and General in 1783.

He died in 1794.

While residing in England in 1774, he wrote the Duke of Leinster, Past Grand Master
of Ireland, and waited upon him "to explain certain matters for the good of the Ancient

—846—

Craft, etc. Thereupon the Grand Lodge gave its thanks to Hon. Bro. Colonel James
Murray." (G.L. Ireland I, 205).

When and where he became a member of the Craft is not known, but it would seem
probable that it was while on service with the 15th Regiment from 1740 to 1766, possibly
at Louisbourg or at Quebec.

The Attack Begins

A landing in force was made on June 8th at the same point as in 1745, and a siege
began which lasted until July 27th, forty-nine days later, when the French Commander,
Drucour, capitulated.

The French garrison was sent to England and other inhabitants to France and thus
ended one of the most decisive sieges in the history of North America. The rejoicings were
widespread both in England and in the American colonies.

The victory was followed up by the sending of expeditions under Lord Rollo of the
22nd Regiment to St. John's Island (now Prince Edward Island) and to Gaspe under
General James Wolfe.

Freemasonry in the 1st Royal Scots (2nd Battalion)

The 1st Foot, known as St. Clair's, or the Royals, was formed in 1633 and since 1812
has been known as the Royal Scots, the senior regiment of infantry in the British Army,
Because of its age and seniority it has been nicknamed "Pontius Pilate's Body Guard."

It was in this Regiment that the first military lodge was established, No. 11 (Irish)
November 7, 1732 (Gould & Hughan, vol. iv, p. 200; Gould's Military Lodges, p. 36).

On October 26, 1737, a second Lodge was warranted in the Second Battalion by the
Grand Lodge of Ireland, by Marcus, Viscount Tyrone, Grand Master. The first officers
were James Nelson, Master, Thomas Brew, S.W., and Thomas Swingler, J.W. The
records of the Grand Lodge show no further registrations until 1783.

Among the officers of the Battalion at this time was Lieut. Robert MacKinnon or
MacKinen, who had served in Pepperrell's Regiment from September 19, 1745, in the
garrison at Louisbourg 1745-48, becoming a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, on
October 12, 1746.

After the siege, the 1st Royals went into winter quarters near Albany, New York, and
while there Lodge No. 74 accepted into its membership a large number of influential
citizens "Scholars and gentlemen". On its departure in April, 1759, for New Jersey, the
Lodge granted an exact copy of its warrant to these local brethren in Albany under which
they were to work until a regular warrant could be obtained. This copy was endorsed by
John Steadman, Secretary, Anias Sutherland, Master, Charles Calder, S. W., and Thomas
Parker, J.W., and certified that Richard Cartright, Henry Bostwick and William
Ferguson had been installed "as Assistant Master and Wardens of our body. . . until they,
by our assistance can procure a separate warrant for themselves from the Grand Lodge in
Ireland," (Hist, of F'm'y in N. Y. Ossian Lang, p. 41) & (McClenachan vol. i, p. 153)

It is said that on taking up duty in Albany, the regiment "brought with them, and
kept up, a large and valuable library of rare books," which they left to the city when the

—847—

battalion was ordered away. Some of these volumes are still preserved in the library of the
Albany Female Academy.

The new Lodge continued to work under the copied warrant until February 21 , 1765,
when it was granted a charter as Union Lodge No. 1 by Geo. Harison, Provincial Grand
Master. The original warrant is now in the Archives of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.

Both McClenachan (vol. 1, p. 134) and Lang (p. 42) say that it was confirmed by Sir
John Johnson, Grand Master, on July 30, 1773, and that under it the Lodge continued to
work until the close of the War of Independence. The warrant itself does not show any
endorsement but it has on it the statement "I was the last Master of this Lodge.
C. C. Yates." According to McClenachan (p. 159), Yates objected to giving up the
warrant for a new one in 1797. After much discussion the Lodge agreed to surrender all
old warrants and receive a new one entitled "Mount Vernon No. 3". C.C. Yates was
elected Master December 16, 1806.

Probably the most distinguished member of the American off-shoot of Lodge No.
74, was Morgan Lewis, son of Francis Lewis, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. Initiated in Union Lodge No. 1, in 1776, he was Colonel and Chief of Staff
to General Horatio Gates. Later he was appointed Quarter-Master-General for the
Northern Department, escorted General Washington on his inauguration as President of
the United States, and rose to be Governor and State Senator of New York. He retired
from the Army with the rank of Major-General. In 1830, Morgan Lewis was elected
Grand Master of Masons in New York. He died in 1844.

On leaving Albany in June 1759, the Second Battalion took part in the siege of
Ticonderoga in July of that year and garrisoned Crown Point after its surrender. There is
record of the making of twelve officers of the Regiment, in a Lodge presided over by
Abraham Savage, under a dispensation dated in 1758, granted by Jeremy Gridley,
Provincial Grand Master "to Congregate all Free and Accepted Masons in the Present
Expedition against Canada at Lake George or elsewhere in our district into one or more
Lodges." (I Mass. 63, 77).

In the "List of those who were made Masons", on this occasion we find the names of
Captain David Allen or Alleyne
Lieut. John Knox
Lieut. Patrick West
Lieut. Dudley Ashe

all of whom were officers in the Regiment during its service at the Siege of Louisbourg.

It may well be that this Military Lodge at this period, when it entered the jurisdiction
of another Grand Lodge, took a local warrant and number. There are considerable
numbers of such instances in Nova Scotia, Quebec and India.

In September 1760, Lodge No. 74 was present at the capitulation of Montreal. It
continued to work until 1801, but seems to have been revived in 1808 while the Regiment
was in India (Gould's Military Lodges, p. 125-26).

The Regiment has served in every part of the world, and at times there have been
other Masonic Lodges attached to it. One, No. 316 (Eng. Cons.) is still active
and prosperous. (G. L. Ireland, vol. ii, p. 292; Freemasonry in the Royal Scots, T.R.
Henderson).

—848—

Amherst's (15th) Foot and Lodge No. 245 (Irish)

The 15th Foot, known in 1758 as Amherst's, and now known as the East Riding
Yorkshire Regiment, is the junior among the old foot regiments dating their existence from
the year 1685. It remained in Scotland until 1693 and afterwards was for a time in Flanders
with William III until after the Peace of Ryswick, when it went to Ireland.

In 1701, the regiment, then Col. Emmanuel Howe's, went to Holland with Marl-
borough and took a distinguished part in his campaigns. It was one of five British
regiments which turned the tide of the war at the Battle of Blenheim. It remained in
garrison at Dunkirk until 1715, when it went to Scotland.

In 1740 the regiment formed part of the force sent against Carthagena in South
America. After terrible losses, the regiment was withdrawn to Jamaica, and from there it
returned home in 1742.

From 1749 to 1755 it served in Ireland. While there a warrant, No. 245, was granted
to the brethren in the Regiment by the Grand Lodge of Ireland, April 10th, 1754.

In 1755 the regiment was for a brief time in Flanders, but was recalled and stationed
in the south of England where a French attack was looked for. Afterwards it served in the
blundering expedition against L'Orient. At the commencement of the Seven Years' War it
was employed in the Rochefort expedition.

At the time of the attack on Louisbourg, the Colonel of the 15th Foot was General
Amherst, and its Lieut. -Colonel the Hon. James Murray commanding 850 men.

The grenadier company formed part of the centre division under James Wolfe, and
the remainder, part of the left division under Charles Lawrence. In the landing on June
8th, the regiment suffered the loss of several officers and men killed and wounded.

After the siege the regiment wintered at Halifax, proceeding in 1759 to take part in
the siege of Quebec, where it spent the winter of 1759-60, and where there is considerable
evidence of the Lodge's activity. (Robertson's Hist. vol. i, p. 162-7). There is indeed some
ground for believing that the lodge on arriving at Quebec, did as Lodge No. 74, in the 1st
Royals had done at Albany, that is, accepted as members residents of Quebec who
continued the Lodge after the departure of the Regiment under the name of Merchants'
Lodge, No. 1, in which Lodge, John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of
Independence was made a Mason.

In 1760 the regiment was part of the garrison defending Quebec and later participated
in the attack on Montreal. In 1761 the regiment proceeded to Stat en Island, thence to
Barbados and the West Indies. In 1763 it again embarked for New York, proceeding to
Albany, Lake Champlain, Montreal and the Upper Lakes. In 1768 it embarked for
England. After service there and in Ireland, it embarked in 1776 for Cape Fear, North
Carolina, thence to Staten Island for service in the operations around New York.

The Regiment was again in Halifax from 1816 to 1821 , but it would seem that the old
Lodge had ceased its activities, as we find several of the officers joining various Halifax
lodges.

It again served in Canada in the Rebellion of 1837.

The records of the Grand Lodge of Ireland contain no registrations or other details of
the Lodge's activities.

—849—

FoRBE's (17th) Regiment and Lodge 136 (Irish)

One of the most interesting of all Regiments of the British Army, from a Masonic
viewpoint, is the 17th Leicestershire Regiment.

This Regiment was raised in 1688 and saw its first active service under William III in
the Flanders campaigns, where it suffered heavy losses at Landen and at the siege of
Namur.

After service in Marlborough's campaigns, in Portugal and in Scotland, it served in
Minorca from 1723-48, and while there the Masons in the Regiment, then known as
Wynyard's Regiment, were granted a warrant, No. 136, dated June 24th, 1748, by the
Grand Lodge of Ireland.

From 1751 until 1757 the Regiment was in Ireland, with Colonel Richbell as
commanding officer and Lieut. -Col. William Congreave as second in command.

In passing, it may be noted that at least seven of the original settlers of Halifax in
1749 were ex-privates from "Wynyard's" or "Richbell's Foot".

On the outbreak of the Seven Year's War in 1756, the Regiment embarked from Cork
on May 5, 1757 for Nova Scotia and formed part of the Expedition of the Earl of
Loudoun in 1757. After the abandonment of that enterprise the regiment wintered in New
York returning in the spring to Halifax to join the main force under Amherst and Wolfe,
against Louisbourg.

At Louisbourg the Regiment was composed of 660 men and was under the command
of Brig. Gen. John Forbes. For its services on this occasion the Regiment bears upon its
colours the name "Louisbourg".

Although it did not participate in the capture of Quebec in the following year, it
would seem probable that its association with Wolfe at Louisbourg may have been the
reason for the officers of the Regiment, even to this present day, wearing in his memory a
black silk thread or worm running through their gold lace, and for the further fact that
"Wolfe's Dirge" a lament in memory of Wolfe is played by the band on parade as the
officers' call.

After the capture of Louisbourg the 17th was sent in August by way of Boston to
winter quarters at Philadelphia, where the members of the Lodge are said to have frater-
nized with the Masons of that city.

In the spring of 1759, the Regiment took part in the Crown Point expedition, and
later in the advance on Montreal, being present when that place capitulated in September
1760. Under Lord Rollo the Regiment proceeded to New York and Staten Island, and
from there in October to Barbados, participating in the capture of Martinique and later of
Havana, 1762, returning to the Great Lakes region for duty more or less of a police-
nature. In July 1767 the Regiment returned to England.

Unity Lodge No. 169 (Scot.)

While in England, brethren in the Regiment applied to the Grand Lodge of Scotland
for a new warrant to replace the former Irish warrant lost "through the many hazardous
enterprises in which they had been engaged in the Service of their King and Country." A

—850—

warrant dated November 12, 1771, for Unity Lodge, No. 168 (in some lists No. 169) was
issued. When the 17th Regiment embarked for Boston in the fall of 1775 they took with
them their new warrant. They landed in New York in time to take part in the Battle of
Long Island in August 1776 and in the occupation of New York in September, the Battle of
White Plains, October 28, and the reduction of Fort Washington on November 16th.

In the Battle of Princeton in January 1777, the Regiment was obliged to retire to
Trenton, leaving their barrage behind including the warrant of Unity Lodge No. 169 which
later passed into the hands of Union Lodge No. 5, Middletown, Delaware. (Warrant in
Sachse, Old Lodges of Pennsylvania, vol. 1, p. 361)

At the end of the war the Regiment was stationed at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, for
several years (1783-86), where its Lodge conferred the Royal Arch, Red Cross and Knight
Templar degrees.

Freemasonry in the 17th Regiment has been the subject of many articles probably the
fullest that by Julius Sachse in his Pennsylvania Lodges, although much new information
has been discovered since its publication in 1912. With this later and most interesting
period following 1758 we are not for the moment concerned.

Among the members of the Craft serving in this Regiment at Louisbourg in 1758 are
the following:

Richard Montgomery bom in Ireland in 1736, was appointed Ensign in the 17th
Regiment September 21st, 1756, and served at the siege of Louisbourg as a Lieutenant and
in the later operations at Ticonderoga and Crown Point in 1759 at Montreal and in 1760 in
the West Indies. He was made adjutant May 15, 1760, and continued with the Regiment
until April 1772, when he retired from the British Army.

Returning to America, he purchased a fine estate at King's Bridge or Rhinebeck on
the banks of the Hudson River, and married Janet the daughter of the Hon. Robert R.
Livingstone, Grand Master of New York 1784-1801. Morgan Lewis, Grand Master
1830-44 was a brother-in-law.

At the outbreak of the Revolution he offered his services and was appointed a
Brigadier-General in the American forces. He was second in command under Schuyler in
the expedition sent against Canada in 1775, and participated in the capture of Chambly,
St. John and Montreal. Promoted Major-General he joined Benedict Arnold in the siege
of Quebec. In an assault at daybreak on the Lower Town on December 31st, 1775, he fell
mortally wounded. Carleton, the British Commander at Quebec, a former brother-in-
arms as well as a brother Mason, gave Montgomery honourable burial within the walls of
the city, and in 1818, his remains were reinterred in St. Paul's Churchyard, New York City.

He was probably made a Mason in Lodge No. 136 (Irish) in the 17th Regiment in
which he served for sixteen years. (Connecticut Square & Compasses, June 1958, p. 12)

Alexander Aberdour, Secretary, is listed as a corporal in the Regiment at Ticonderoga
May 1760. He served until the day of the embarkation of the Regiment at Cork for
Boston, September 23rd, 1775.

Lieut. Richard Aylmer, Adjutant of the 17th Regiment, who gave "ample recommenda-
tion" to the petition of the Brethren, was a surgeon's mate in the Regiment in 1756;

—851—

promoted Ensign 1759; Lieutenant 1762; Adjutant 1768; Capt. -Lieut. 1772, 2nd Capt.
1772. He served at Louisbourg 1758, Crown Point and Montreal 1759-60, and Mzirtinique
1762.

Whitmore's (22nd) Regimenttand Lodge No. 251 (Irish)

The 22nd Regiment, now known as the Cheshire Regiment, was raised in 1689. Early
in the eighteenth century it saw service in the West Indies. At the time of its transfer to
Ireland in 1749, it was commanded by Major-General O'Farrell. Among the original
settlers of Halifax in that year were several disbanded soldiers of O'Farrell's Foot. In
1751, Col. Edward Whitmore (1691-1761) formerly of the 36th Regiment, was appointed
to command, and for some years the Regiment was known as Whitmore's.

During its sojourn in Ireland, the Masonic brethren in the Regiment applied for and
obtained an Irish warrant No. 251 (November 26, 1754) under which it worked at Louis-
bourg. This warrant was "lost in the Mississippi" about the year 1764, when the regiment
was ambushed by Indians at Roche d'Avon, and practically exterminated (G.L. of
Ireland, ii, p. 295).

In 1756, the Regiment was transferred to Nova Scotia to form part of the Earl of
Loudoun's expedition against Louisbourg. On the abandormient of that effort in 1757, the
Regiment wintered in New York.

In May, 1758, it formed part of the attacking forces in the second siege of Louisbourg
under Amherst and Wolfe, being brigaded under General Edward Whitmore, with Col.
Andrew, Lord Rollo, as Lieut. -Colonel in command. The regiment was then composed of
910 men of all ranks. After the capture of that fortress in June 1758, Whitmore was
appointed Governor and the 22nd formed part of the garrison.

Lieut.-Col. Andrew, 5th Lord Rollo bom in 1703 at Duncrub, Perthshire, Scotland,
was a man of character and ability and a keen and enthusiastic Mason. Although only
twenty-five years of age when he was first elected Master of the ancient Masonic Lodge at
Scoon and Perth No. 3 (Scot.) his influence was immediately felt. He served on three
separate occasions, 1728-29, 1730-31, and 1734-35. On the death of his wife in 1743, he
turned his attention to the Army, wherein his success was marked and his promotion
rapid.

He served with gallantry at the Battle of Dettingen, 1743, when he was promoted
Captain; Major in 1750; Lt. Colonel of the 22nd in 1758. After the capture of Louisbourg
he was sent with 500 men to take possession of the Island of St. John (now Prince Edward
Island) and was engaged in that operation for three months.

In the spring of 1760 he joined Murray in the advance on Montreal. In 1761 he
surprised and captured the French island of Dominica in the West Indies, and shared in
the siege of Martinique which surrendered in February 1762. He acted as Brigadier-
General at Havana under Lord Albemarle for several months, but was obliged to return
home to recover his health. He died at Leicester, England, June 2nd, 1765, and is buried in
St. Margaret's Churchyard. (Masonic Papers, I, by John T. Thorp, p. 31.)

His only son, Lieut, the Hon. John Rollo served in the Regiment at Louisbourg and
was killed in action in the attack on Martinique four years later.

—852—

In the expedition sent to St. John's Island, he was accompanied by Lieut. William
Spry of the Engineers, also a member of the Craft.

Having settled a garrison on the Island, the remainder of the detachment returned to
Louisbourg. It is a tradition that the Brethren of Lord Rollo's detachment held Masonic
meetings during their stay on St. John's Island. RoUo Bay, on the northeast shore of the
Island, is named after him.

In the list of officers of the Regiment, while at Louisbourg, we find the names of

Captain Christopher French
Lieutenant Robert Briscoe
Lieutenant Edward Brereton
Ensign Edward Brabazon
Ensign Burton Smith

all members of Moriah Lodge No. 132 (Scot.) constituted March 7th, 1767 in Wedder-
burn's (22nd) Regiment of Foot in 1770, when French was listed as Master, Brabazon as
S.W., and the other three as members.

It is significant that Bro. Edward Brereton, on behalf of the Ancients Grand Lodge,
constituted "the Super Excellent Royal Arch Lodge No. 52" in General Stuart's (37th)
Regiment of Foot at Dundee, warranted in 1756. (Hughan's Origin of English Rite, p. Ill)

Bragg'S (28th) Regiment and Lodge No. 35 (Irish)

The 28th Regiment was raised in 1694, and is now known as the Gloucestershire
Regiment. At the time of the siege of Louisbourg it was commanded by Col. Philip Bragg.

Following the Loudoun expedition, in 1757, it was stationed at Fort Cumberland for
the winter, returning to Halifax in 1758 to participate in the siege of Louisbourg. At that
time it comprised 650 men.

In 1759 it participated in the siege of Quebec, and later helped in the defence of the
city and took part in the attack on Montreal in 1760.

In 1734, a warrant No. 35, was granted to brethren in the Regiment by the Grand
Lodge of Ireland, but there is no record in the Register of the date of issue or the first
officers or members of the Lodge. It seems to have continued until 1801.

Captain Thomas Augustus Span, of the 28th Regiment was a son of Richard Span of a
well-known County Langford family (from which Lord Plunkett, Archbishop of Dublin
was descended) and was gazetted Captain August 28, 1753.

At Quebec he was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master by Lieut. John Price
Guinnett, the first Provincial Grand Master at Quebec, November 28, 1759, and continued
in that office during the term of Col. Simon Eraser, whom he succeeded as Provincial
Grand Master on November 24, 1760. In 1762 he served at Havana in the 95th Regiment
as Major. He died about 1768.

Otwav's (35th) Regiment and Lodge No. 205 (Irish)

Otway's (35th) Regiment, now known as the Royal Sussex Regiment, was raised in
Belfast in 1701, and first saw service in the West Indies. It was known for some years as
General Blakeney's Foot and later as Lieut. General Chas. Otway's.

—853—

At the commencement of the Seven Years' War the 35th was sent to Nova Scotia
under General Hopson and had some sharp work with the French and Indians on the
frontier in 1756-7. The Regiment did not form part of Lord Loudoun's expedition against
Louisbourg in 1757, and during the winter of 1757-58, the Regiment was stationed in
New York.

At Louisbourg the Regiment, 566 men, was under the command of Lieut. General
Chas. Otway. After the fall of the city, the Regiment wintered at Armapolis Royal (5
companies) St. John River (3 companies) and Fort Edward, Windsor, (2 companies).

In 1759 the Regiment served with Wolfe at Quebec, where on the Plains of Abraham,
led by its gallant Colonel Henry Fletcher, in combat with the Grenadiers of the famous
French Regiment of Royal Roussillon, it won the tall white feather, which was a disting-
uishing mark afterwards and is now among its regimental honours.

The regiment was with Murray at the defence of Quebec and at the capture of
Montreal in 1760, completing the conquest of the Canadas. It was at the capture of
Martinique and of Havana in 1762, after which it was some time in Florida.

When trouble threatened in the American colonies the 35th crossed the Atlantic
again. It took part in the stern fight at Bunker Hill on the 17th June, 1775, and later took
part in the operations about New York, participating in the battles of Long Island,
Brandywine, Germantown, and other early battles. In 1778 it was sent to the West Indies,
where it remained until the end of the War.

Lodge No. 205

While in Ireland in 1749, the brethren in the Regiment were granted a warrant. No.
205, by the Grand Lodge of Ireland, February 7th, 1749.

Among the petitioners to the Grand Lodge of "Ancients" of England on January 10,
1758, for a local warrant was Charles Burnes, a soldier in Otway's Regiment then in winter
quarters at Philadelphia, a former member of Lodge No. 2, London (instituted July 17,
1751) then meeting at the King's Head, Hewitt's Court, Strand. The warrant for the new
Lodge was issued as No. 69 on June 7, 1758, Local No. 1, later No. 2.

While the 35th was quartered at Quebec during the winter of 1759-60, its Lodge was
active with other military lodges. It was assigned No. 8 on the Provincial Roll of 1760.

About 1769, the Lodge became located permanently at Moy, County Tyrone (See
G.L. of Ireland I, 340, 344).

During 1779, the Regiment was at Mount Fortune, St. Lucia, Windward Islands,
when a new warrant was obtained from the Grand Lodge of the Southern District of
North America, under Scotland, located at Pensacola, Province of East Florida. The
brethren of the Lodge, as was then the custom, conferred both the R. A and K. T. degrees
under their Craft Lodge warrant. A Templar certificate issued at this time is to be found in
the Grand Lodge Archives, Philadelphia.

The banner of the old Army Lodge, left at Moy, clearly depicts the emblems of the
various degrees from the E. A. to the Royal Arch and Knight Templar, showing that the
Lodge in the 35th (as did other Irish Lodges of that day), conferred under their Craft
warrant all the degrees of Masonry with which they had any acquaintance.

—854—

HopsoN's (ACnu) Foot and Lodge No. 42 (Ancients)

This Regiment had been organized at Annapolis Royal in 1717. In 1737, Ensign
Erasmus James Philipps was made a Mason in the First Lodge, Boston, and in June 1738,
he formed at Annapolis the first Lodge on Canadian soil. The Regiment at that time
constituted the great majority of the population, and the record shows that it was virtually
a military Lodge attached to the 40th Regiment.

The Regiment continued in the garrison at Annapolis until 1752, when it was moved
to Halifax where it had its headquarters for the next five or six years, with detachments at
several outposts. In June 1755, it formed part of the force under Lieut. Col. Robert
Monckton at the siege and capture of Fort Beausejour, and in August and September
assisted in the removal of the Acadians residing between Windsor and Annapolis.

It was during this period that the Lodge applied for and obtained a warrant No. 42,
dated November 19, 1753, from the Grand Lodge of the Ancients, replacing the warrant
issued in 1738 to Major Erasmus James Philipps, representing Henry Price of Boston.
This proceeding was a transfer of allegiance from the "Modern" Grand Lodge in Boston
to Ancient principles, and must have had the full approval of Erasmus James Philipps, its
founder.

Two years later on December 27, 1757, Philipps, himself, accepted appointment by
the "Ancients" as their Provincial Grand Master and continued so until his death in 1760.

These changes were no doubt due to the overwhelming predominance of Irish and
Scottish warrants in the many military Lodges in the regiments stationed in the Province,
including the very active Lodge No. 192 (Irish) in the 47th Regiment, and the Lodge at
Annapolis under dispensation from Lodge No. 136, in the 17th Regiment.

There cannot be any doubt that the Lodge in the 40th Foot was an active factor in the
spread of Freemasonry in Nova Scotia from 1738 until 1758. In this period it must have
included most of the officers in the Regiment, a closely-knit organization constituting the
governing authority, both military and civil, in the Province, virtually an outpost of New
England.

Dr. William Skene was born in Aberdeen on June 14, 1676, and came to Annapolis
Royal in 1715 in one of the Independent Companies stationed there. When the 40th was
organized in 1717 he became the Surgeon. He was a member of the Council in 1720 and of
the first Court of Justice in 1727, a Commissioner in 1737, along with William Sherriff,
Major Otto Hamilton and Major Erasmus James Philipps to settle the boundaries
between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He was present on November 14, 1737, in
the First Lodge, Boston, when Philipps was initiated, and on several occasions later.
Following the siege, he went to Boston and died there in the summer of 1758, aged 72
years. He is described as "a gentleman of learning and read in the civil law".

Thomas Walker, Lieutenant in 40th Regiment, commissioned June 30, 1755. Barrack
Master at Annapolis, native of Cumberland, England, married Margaret, daughter of
John and Alice Dyson, and brother-in-law of Erasmus James Philipps, and Joseph
Winniett. He died in Boston, June 1775, aged 52.

—855—

Alexander Winniett, born 1733, died unmarried. 2nd Lieut. 1755, 1st Lieut. 1761. Son
of William Winniett of 1710 expedition.

George Cottnam, Ensign, in the 40th, August 12, 1741, Lieutenant September 5, 1746,
served through the siege of 1758 and in the 40th during the period of occupation 1758-60,
taking his discharge and settling down in the city as a magistrate. We find his name among
the subscribers to Calcott's Disquisitions in 1769.

Warburton's 45th Regiment

It will be remembered that Warburton's Regiment served in the garrison at Louis-
bourg in the period following its capture in 1745; also that reference was made to Captain
Alexander Murray who later acted as Deputy Grand Master on the institution of the
Second Lodge in Halifax in 1751.

At the second siege, he was one of the first to dash ashore leading his men in the
landing at Gabarus Bay.

The 45th (Warburton's) Regiment formed part of the garrison there during the next
two years, during which time, its two grenadier companies served at Quebec, under
Lt.-Col. Alex. Murray. The Regiment also took part in the capture of St. John's,
Newfoundland, in 1762. On its return to Ireland in 1766, a warrant for a Masonic Lodge,
No. 445, was issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the Lodge continuing until 1773. The
Regiment was again in America during part of the Revolution, 1776-78 and is now known
as the 1st Nottinghamshire (Sherwood Foresters). (Army Lists; Akins, p. 208, 340)

Ensign Charles Sheriff of the 45th Regiment stated in letters written in 1785 that he
was made a Mason at Louisbourg in 1758 (A.Q.C. XLI, p. 123) but does not mention
the Lodge. He may have been initiated in the Lodge formed in the 28th Regiment in
November 1758, or in the Lodge of some other regiment following the siege.

In 1765 Sheriff was the first Master of a Lodge known as No. 1, held in Jersey,
warranted by the "Moderns" as No. 349, by Thomas Dobree, Provincial Grand Master,
appointed in 1753, for the Channel Islands.

The Lodge, though "Modem" in its origin practised according to "Ancient"
procedures and ritual and "will adhere to none other". As to the Lodge in which he was
initiated, he says, "Except in one Lodge in America our Wt. was from the Grand Lodge
in Scotland; all the others I was in held by Wt. from the Grand Lodge of England; the last
I belonged to was in E. Florida and in the Gd. Lodge there I presided in every capacity, in
'78 the Duke of AthoU was Gd. Mr. & Wm. Dickey, Esq. was D.G. Mr. & transmitted to
me at St. Augustine a Warrant for the 14th Reg.t in these Lodges I worked as I ever did."

By Patent, dated in 1776, from Major Augustine Prevost of the 60th Royal Americans
then at St. Augustine, East Florida, Sheriff was created a Deputy Grand Inspector
General, 25 degrees.

Sheriff also possessed other degrees including the Red Cross of Constantine.

On May 6, 1788, Sheriff, as Deputy Grand Inspector General Prince of the Royal
Secret issued a warrant addressed to James Heseltine, Grand Treasurer of the Grand
Lodge of London, and others to form a Lodge of Perfection in London. The warrant was
accepted by James Heseltine but was never acted upon.

—856—

Ensign Winckworth Tonge, Sr., served at Fort Beausejour in 1755, and at Louisbourg
1758, and laid out some of the siege batteries at Louisbourg. Elected a member of the
Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia. He resided at Windsor, Nova Scotia, and was the
father of William Cottnam Tonge, an eloquent statesman of his day.

Lascelles" (47th) Regiment and Lodge No. 192 (Irish)

This distinguished regiment (now the Loyal North Lancashire Reg't), was originally
raised by Col. John Mordaunt in 1741, Col. Peregrine Lascelles succeeding to the
command in 1743. Two years later the corps, then called the 48th, saw its first service in
the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland, and was badly cut up at Prestonpans.

While quartered in Ireland, the Grand Lodge of Ireland warranted a Masonic Lodge
in its ranks, No. 192 (Mar. 1st, 1748/49) which continued active until 1823. Its members
exerted a marked influence on the Craft in Nova Scotia, and later at Quebec.

On its transfer to Nova Scotia under Lieut. -Col. Charles Lawrence in 1750, the
regiment together with 300 men of Warburton's (45th) marched to Minas, (Grand Pre),
and embarked for Chignecto, and erected a fort on the south side of the Missiquash River,
which they called Fort Lawrence. During the next few years, detachments of the 40th,
45th, and 47th, along with companies of Gorham's Rangers and various independent
companies, were employed in garrisoning various places in Nova Scotia.

The Regiment formed part of the Loudoun Expedition of 1757, and wintered at
Halifax under General Hopson at the second siege of Louisbourg in 1758; its casualties
were nine killed and thirty wounded. After the siege, the 47th wintered in East Jersey,
proceeding with the expedition against Quebec in the spring of 1759. After the siege it
wintered in Quebec, and in 1760 took part in the capture of Montreal.

Returning to Quebec it remained in garrison until 1763 when it returned to Ireland.
The 47th bore the nickname of "Wolfe's Own" for some years, probably because it served
under him at Louisbourg and was much used and favourably noticed by him.

The 47th remained in Ireland until 1773, when it was sent to America and was
quartered in Boston, where it participated in the Battles of Lexington and Bunker's Hill.
After the evacuation of Boston in 1776, the Regiment was sent to Halifax, and thence to
Quebec where it formed part of Gen. Burgoyne's expedition which ended in the capitula-
tion at Saratoga in October 1777.

In the Transactions of the Lodge of Research No. C. C. Ireland (1922, p. 18), will be
found a copy of a Masonic certificate issued by Lodge No. 10 (the local number of the
Lodge while at Quebec) "held by the officers in His Majesty's 47th Regiment of Foot" to
"John Webb, Ensign in the aforesaid Regiment" dated at Charlebourg (near Quebec)
September 3rd, 1763. This certificate is signed by "T. Turner, Master; Jas. Stevenson,
S. Warden; and Jno. Blakely, J. Warden, and William Paxton, Secretary."

John Webb was commissioned as Ensign in the 47th Foot, April 15th, 1759. On June 5th,
1771, he was transferred as a Lieutenant to the 28th Foot.

Thomas Turner is named along with William Arlom as petitioners for the charter No.
192 (Irish) issued to brethren in the 47th Regiment on March 1, 1748-49 when the

—857—

Regiment was in Ireland. They were again petitioners for warrant No. 67 (Ancients)
(No. 3, Halifax) when the Regiment was in Halifax in 1757, the warrant being dated
December 27, 1757.

Another certificate issued to Lieut. James Leslie of the 15th Regiment, at Quebec on
April 12, 1761, is depicted in J. Ross Robertson's History. It, too, is signed by Thomas
Turner, as Master of Select Lodge No. 1 from which it would appear that he was Master of
three Lodges between 1757 and 1763.

At a meeting of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge, London, held October 5, 1923, the
Secretary exhibited a silver gilt jewel (A.Q.C. XXXVI, p. 269) with Craft and R.A.
emblems engraved on it, and the name Thomas Turner No. 192" but no date.

The records of Lodge No. 192 show that Thomas Turner, William Arlom, John
Stephenson (James Stevenson?) William Paxton, and four others were "admitted" that is
registered on December 27, 1761. These were the first registrations in the Grand Lodge
books after the issue of the warrant on March 1, 1748/49.

Turner joined the Regiment at Halifax in 1758 and was appointed Ensign May 14,
1760 and adjutant in 1762.

He became Master of Lodge No. 192 on December 27, 1762. Two years previously
(on December 27, 1760) he was elected Deputy Grand Master of the Provincial Grand
Lodge at Quebec and Grand Master in June 1763.

Other members of Lodge No. 192, who served in the 47th Regiment at Louisbourg
were

Captain Thomas Smelt appointed Captain March 20, 1758.

James Stevenson appointed Lieutenant March 21, 1758.

Henry Marr appointed Ensign in July 1755 and Lieutenant March 20, 1758.

MiLBURNE West was the son of Thomas West of Cranalagh, Co. Longford, Ireland. He
was originally an Ensign in Shirley's 50th Regiment, which was re-organized in 1754. He
was appointed Ensign in the 47th Regiment in November 1756 and on January 31st, 1759,
he was gazetted a Lieutenant in the same Regiment. On December 27, 1761, while serving
with the same Regiment at Quebec, he was elected Provincid Grand Master continuing in
office until June 24, 1763.

Where he was made a Mason has not been learned.

He died at Bath, England in 1812.

His son, Francis Ralph West, Lieut. Col. 33rd Reg't was A.D.C. to Wellington in
several of the Peninsular Campaigns.

Lieut. William Augustus Gordon, Adjutant of the 47th May 1, 1745; Quzirter-Master
July 30, 1751; Ensign of the 40th April 24, 1755 (Army List 1752), Lieut. 40th July 2, 1755.

Fought at Minorca in 1756 and served with distinction at Louisbourg in 1758, at
Quebec 1759 and Havana 1762. Half pay as Capt. Lieut. 1763-64, appointed to 1 1th Foot
1767; Captain 1770, Retired 1776.

Grandfather of General Gordon of Khartoum.

—858—

William Paxton a Sergeant in the 47th was Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of
Quebec 1759-62 when he returned to England with his Regiment.

William Shirreff born in Annapolis Royal in 1732, was the son of William Shirreff
mentioned as present at the initiation of Erasmus James Philipps of the 40th Regiment in
the First Lodge, Boston, on November 14, 1737, and was himself appointed an Ensign in
the 40th Regiment in January 1751 and was present at a meeting of the Grand Lodge in
Boston on October 28, 1763 (Mass. I, p. 88).

William Edward Seymour joined the 47th Regiment as an Ensign in July 1753, when he
was only 17 years of age, becoming Adjutant in four years later. He was evidently initiated
about this time for we find him a petitioner for the warrant for the Provincial Grand
Lodge in 1757.

WEBB'S (48th) Foot and Lodge No. 218 (Irish)

This Regiment was originally formed in 1740 and fought at Colloden in 1745 and in
the Flanders Campaign of 1747-48. The Regiment landed at Alexandria in Virginia in
March 1755 and served in the unfortunate expedition against Fort Duquesne where
Braddock fell in 1755, and then wintered in Philadelphia and Albany (1755-56). It did not
take part in Loudoun's venture against Louisbourg in 1757, but during the winter of
1757-58 was quartered in New York under his command and was then moved to Nova
Scotia for the siege of Louisbourg, when it consisted of 932 men.

Its history in brief following Louisbourg is as follows:

1758-59 (winter) - In cantonments in Connecticut.

1759 - Took part in capture of Quebec in July, August and September and wintered there

1759-60.

1760 - In the expedition against Montreal.

1762 - Attack on Martinique under Lord RoUo.

1763 - Returned home to England.
1775-78 - American Revolution.

1778 - To West Indies where it remained until the end of War, when it was again sent

home,
1794-% - Again in French West Indies, including capture of Saint Lucia, Martinique and
Guadeloupe.

Lodge No. 218

This Lodge was warranted by the Grand Lodge of Ireland on December 27, 1750,
when the Regiment was in Ireland after the Flanders Campaign.

Following the winter of 1755-56 in Philadelphia, it moved on to Virginia and Halifax,
leaving behind three "Sargants" of the Regiment who visited Lodge No. 2, Philadelphia,
on April 11, 1758, for at this time the Regiment was in New York on its way to Nova
Scotia as part of the expedition against Louisbourg in Cape Breton.

In 1946, William J. Paterson, the Librarian of the Pennsylvania Historical Society,
discovered in the Archives of that Society two certificates issued by the Royal Arch and
King Solomon Lodge to William McKee, one dated June 30, 1758 (Proc. Penn. 1946,

—859—

p. 170-71) and the other June 3rd, 1759, each signed by John Davan, Master, John
Marshall and Thomas Hiett, Wardens, and Jas. Ferguson, Secretary.

The seal on the first certificate bears the No. 218, identifying it with the Lodge of that
number in the 48th Regiment. The seal on the second certificate bears the name of the
Lodge but not a number. These facts are significant and would, it seems, indicate that the
Regiment, while in New York for the winter of 1757-58 had done what Lodge No. 74 in the
2nd Battalion of the 1st Royal Regiment did at Albany in April 1759, issued a dispensation
to other brethren remaining in New York. Another instance is the dispensation issued by
Lodge No. 136 in the 17th Regiment to brethren in the 43rd Regiment at Minorca or
Halifax.

Among the records of the Kirkwall Kilwinning Lodge No. 38 of Kirkwall, Scotland,
already mentioned is a similar certificate issued to one Robert Bryson as a Master Mason,
dated May 29, 1759, and signed by the same Master and Wardens with John Thompson as
Secretary. A minute of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1759 mentions a visitor from this
Lodge. (Am. L.R. V. p. 322; Jones, p. 49).

All this would seem to indicate that there is some connection between Lodge No. 218
and the present day Independent Royal Arch Lodge No. 2 of New York.

It may well be that George Harison took over Lodge No. 218 or recognized an
endorsed copy of that warrant, and issued a new warrant dated December 15, 1760 (see
McClenaghan I, p. 206-7).

The names of "John Davan, M. Trinity Lodge and of the Ineffable of the Supr.
Degrees, P.J.G.P., S.W., &c" and "W. Mr. John Marshall, S.W. Trinity Lodge" appear
in the "List of Subscribers in the Province of New York" for Wellins Calcott's "Candid
Disquisition" published in 1769. Started a leather business in Elizabethtown (now
Elizabeth) N. J., and was present in 1787 and 1788 at the first meeting of the Grand Lodge
of New Jersey. His name also appears as a Chapter member of two early Lodges in that
State.

The name of Thomas Hiett appears on an address to Admiral and General Howe,
October 16, 1776. He was a Charter member of Solomon's Lodge No. 212 (Ancients)
November 1, 1780, and first S.W. The warrant was captured and a new warrant issued
(Amer. Lodge of Research IV, p. 547, 551). The Lodge was constituted at the Royal
Exchange, New York, March 1, 1782, and later (1788) St. Patrick's Lodge and still later
No. 5, New York.

A distinguished member of Lodge No. 218 was Major Robert Ross who entered the
Army at an early age and was commissioned as a Captain (September 4, 1754) in the 48th
Foot, serving in his Regiment both at Louisbourg in 1758 and at Quebec in 1759, and
assisting in the establishment of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec. Upon his return
home, he retired with the rank of Lieut. -Colonel and entered politics as M. P. for Carling-
ford, 1769-76, and for Newry 1776-99, a Privy Councillor and Commissioner of the
Revenue in Ireland. In 1786, he was Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Ireland,
Junior Grand Warden in 1787 and 1788; and Senior Grand Warden 1789 (G.L. Ireland,
Lepper Crossle, p. 219).

He was co-owner with two brothers of the Rostrevor Estate in Co. Down, and upon
his death, unmarried, on February 24, 1799, the property passed to his nephew. General

—860—

Robert Ross, captor of Washington in 1814, who fell at Baltimore, September 12, 1814,
buried at Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Hist. G.L. Ireland, vol. 1, p. 219).

Capt. Barry St. Leger later served at the siege of Quebec, took part in the War of the
Revolution including the Battle of Oriskany in 1777. In 1781, his forces occupied Crown
Point. In 1782 he commanded the garrison at Quebec, as Brigadier-General, becoming
Commander in Chief of the troops in Canada in 1785.

Barry Lodge No. 17 (Prov. Reg.) in the 34th Regiment at Quebec, warranted in 1783,
(No. 466, Eng. Cons.) was named after him.

Joseph Dunkerley was a Sergeant-Major in the 48th Regiment, and his name appears
imbedded on the outside cover of a Masonic Pocket Companion in the Library of the
Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. In the list of members of the Lodge registered in the Grand
Lodge of Ireland he was reported as a member of the Lodge on May 24, 1784. A Joseph
Dunckerley was Deputy P.G.M. of the P.G.L. of Jamaica and P.G.M. 1801-07 (Amer.
Lodge Res. Ill, p. 140, 141).

Also present at the siege of Louisbourg were

45th Regiment (previously mentioned)

58th Regiment (Anstruther's)

60th Regiment, 1st and 2nd Battalions

Royal Mariners

Fraser's 78th Highlanders

Rangers (Gorham's)

While there were no Lodges in any of these units, we find on the muster rolls several very
distinguished members of the Craft.

Anstruther's (58th) Regiment, late the Rutlandshire Regiment, and now the 2nd
Battalion of the Northamtonshire Regiment, wintered at Halifax during the winter of
1758-59, and in the spring moved on to the siege of Quebec. While there a dispensation
was issued to the Masonic brethren in its ranks, later No. 2 on the Provincial roll on which
it remained until 1762. In 1769, it received an Irish warrant No. 466, which continued
until 1817.

The 60th Regiment (Royal Americans) was raised in 1756 and originally consisted of
four battalions recruited to served in the American Colonies. The first Commander in
Chief was the Earl of Loudoun.

At the time of its organization there were no Masonic Lodges in its ranks although it
contained several very distinguished Masons, and following the siege of Quebec we find a
Lodge attached to each battalion.

The Commanding Officer of this Regiment at Louisbourg was Col. John Young
who held office as Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland from 1736. In
1757 he received a patent appointing him Provincial Grand Master over all Scottish
Lodges in America.

At Louisbourg Col. Robert Monckton commanded the 2nd Battalion and Col.
Charles Lawrence the 3rd. At Quebec in 1760 there were two Lodges attached to these two
Battalions, No. 3 (Prov. Roll) in the 2nd Battalion and No. 5 (P.R.) in the 3rd Battalion.

—861 —

Lt. Col. John Young

John Young was born near Perth in Scotland about 1715. On leaving school he was
apprenticed to a merchant in Perth, but shortly afterward joined the Army, obtaining a
commission as Ensign and later promotion to Lieutenant. In 1736 he held a Captain's
Commission. In that year he was elected Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, continuing in office for the next 16 years, retiring November 30, 1752. He was a
member of the Kilwinning Scots Arms Lodge established February 14, 1729. On October
4, 1745, he was promoted Major, serving in the Duke of Bolton's Foot raised to quell the
rebellion of the Young Pretender.

On December 25, 1755, he was appointed to the newly organized Loyal American
Provincials, or 62nd Foot, recruited largely in Pennsylvania and New York and
embodying the whole of De Grange's Rangers, which from 1741-48 had seen active service
in America. On the roll of the 62nd, his name appears as the senior of four Majors in the
Army List of 1756. On August 28, 1756 he was in New York.

In 1757 the 62nd Regiment became the 60th Royal Americans. On April 26th, 1757,
Young was promoted to Lieut. -Colonel of the 1st Battalion.

In June 1757 he was in New York City when he advertised for his lost pocketbook.

In this same year, the Battalion was engaged in the operations around Fort William
Henry, and he was among those who escaped massacre at the hands of the Indians
following the surrender of the Fort in July negotiated by Col. Young with Montcalm.
(See Knox's Journal, vol. II, p. 227)

On November 14, 1757, he was appointed by the Grand Master of Scotland, Sholto
Lord Aberdour, as Provincial Grand Master over all Scottish Lodges in America and the
West Indies. At this time the Scottish Lodges in this territory were:

(1) St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 81, Boston, warranted November 30, 1756; the warrant
for which arrived in Boston, September 4, 1760.

(2) Lodge No. 82, Blandford, Virginia, 1756.

(3) The Lodge at Fredericksburg, Virginia, which had been working at least since
1753 and which was Wcuranted July 21, 1758.

(4) Royal Arch King Solomon Lodge, No. 2, New York. The earliest evidence of this
Lodge is a certificate dated May 20, 1759, but the Lodge may have been in
existence a year or two earlier.

On January 26, 1758, Young was promoted to the rank of full colonel.

At the siege of Quebec in September 1759, Col. Young is mentioned in Wolfe's final
orders of attack when the Royal Americans formed part of the corps of reserves.

On November 12, 1759, he was appointed by General Murray as Chief Judge, with
civil and criminal jurisdiction over the inhabitants of Quebec.

At the Battle of Ste. Foye, April 28, 1760, Col. Young commanding the 3rd
Battalion, 60th Regiment was taken prisoner. On March 20, 1761, Young was transferred
to the command of the 46th Regiment, serving in Martinique, Grenada, St. Lucia,
St. Vincent and Havana, Cuba. Young's name disappears from the Army List in 1763.

—862—

Capt. John Knox in his "Campaigns in North America" says of him that he was "a
man of great merit, an incomparable officer, of sound judgment, long experience and was
universally esteemed."

Major Augustine Prevost, born 1723, served as Cornet in the Horse Guards at
Fontenoy in 1745. After service for some years in the Dutch army, he was appointed
Major in the newly organized Royal Americans, 1756. He served in the 3rd Battalion in
Loudoun's expedition and wintered at Darthmouth and Halifax, October 1757 to April
1758, and in the second siege of Louisbourg and at Quebec. He succeeded Col. John
Young as commanding officer, and served in the West Indies in 1762. On the disbandment
of the Battalion in 1763,- he was appointed to command the 1st Battalion.

During the American War of Independence he served in East Florida, Georgia and
Carolina. He died in England in 1786.

Lieut. John Christie received his commission as Ensign on August 28, 1758 in the 1st
Battalion. In 1764 he was named as Master of Lodge No. 1 at Detroit, warranted by the
Provincial Grand Lodge of New York (Ancients).

Freemasonry in the 78th Regiment, Eraser's Highlanders, has been fully recorded by
Bro. A. J. B. Milborne of Montreal (A.Q.C. LXV p. 19; C.M.R.A. 1952, Part 1 ), and it is
unnecessary to make reference to its interesting story except in respect of the siege of
Louisbourg.

At Louisbourg there was no Lodge in the Regiment and not until October 20, 1760,
when a warrant was issued by Col. Simon Eraser, presiding as Grand Master of Masons in
Quebec. He had been elected to that office on June 24, 1760 by the various Lodges in the
garrison and installed by Thomas Dunckerley, then in Quebec.

The 78th Eraser Highlanders

Col. Simon Eraser commander of the 78th Foot, was the son of Lord Lovat, beheaded
on Tower Hill, for his part in the Scottish rising of 1745. He himself had also participated
in the affair, but had been pardoned. When the 78th Regiment was raised in 1757, he
joined it with 700 of his ovm clan, and the Regiment became known as Eraser's High-
landrs. The Regiment embarked for Halifax in the same year to take part in the Loudoun
expedition. After serving at Louisbourg in 1758 the Regiment proceeded to the siege of
Quebec in 1759, after which the Regiment formed part of the garrison of that city.

In June, 1760, Col. Eraser was elected Provincial Grand Master by the Quebec
Lodges and was installed by the celebrated Thos. Dunckerley of the "Vanguard", when he
was succeeded by Captain Augustus Span of the 28th Regiment. The 78th was disbanded
at the end of the War. (Gould, Mil. Lodges, p. 108)

Another Masonic member of the Regiment was the Chaplain Rev. Robert
MacPherson believed to have been made a Mason in Scotland. In 1761 he appears as a
member of Select Lodge, Quebec.

While serving at Quebec, a Lodge was established in the Regiment (No. 6 P.R.) in
October 1760 with Alex. Leith, Master; James Thompson, S.W., and Alex. Ferguson, J.W.

—863-

James Thompson, born at Tain in Scotland, was made a Mason there. He served as
Sergeant in the 78th Regiment at Louisbourg where his cousin. Captain Andrew Baillie,
was killed by his side. At Quebec he was placed in charge of the wounded. He was for at
least twelve years Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec. He was also
a Charter member of St. Andrew's Lodge, Quebec.

From 1761 to 1772 he was Clerk of Works and from 1772 to 1828 Overseer of Works.
He participated in the laying of the cornerstone of the Wolfe and Montcalm monument in
1827, as the only survivor of the armies of 1759. He died in 1830, aged 97 years.

ENGI^4EERS

Capt. Adam Williamson of the Engineers was the son of General George Williamson
( 1704-81 ) who commanded the Artillery at Louisbourg. After Louisbourg Adam William-
son served in the 40th Regiment from 1760 to 1770. In a petition signed by him in 1771 he
stated that he had served in North America and the West Indies since 1755 from the defeat
of Braddock to the capture of Havana, and had been twice wounded; first at Mononga-
hela and later at Quebec. In 1771 he was appointed Major in the 61st Regiment then in
Minorca. In 1793 he was promoted Lieut. -Colonel of the 18th Royal Irish, was made a
Knight of the Bath and appointed Governor of Jamaica. In 1797 he was promoted
Colonel of the 72nd Highlanders. He was Provincial Grand Master for Jamaica under the
Grand Lodge of England (Modems) from 1793-8. He died in Jamaica October 21st, 1798.

Capt. Lieut. William Spry of the Engineers who participated in the expedition to
St. John's Island served in the Expedition against Quebec in 1759. He was again at Louis-
bourg in 1760, and superintended the demolition of the city. Spryfield near Halifax was
named after him.

Richard Gridley of the Engineers had served in the first siege of 1745 and reference has
already been made to him. Following that event he entered the regular army and served in
the Crown Point expedition as a Lieut. -Colonel of Infantry and Chief Engineer.

Following the second siege of Louisbourg he served with General Wolfe at Quebec in
1759.

He served in the Revolutionary War as a Major General in the American Army. His
Masonic career was one of great distinction. (Johnson 303).

It was Gridley who as Grand Master on November 13, 1758, while at Louisbourg,
issued a warrant to Edward Huntingford and others for Lodge No. 1, Boston, in the 28th
Regiment.

Gregory Townsend who served in Wolfe's Army at the second siege, was for some years
"Commissary of Stores in the Island of Cape Breton and later Assistant Commissary
General of the Forces in the Province of Nova Scotia." He is buried in St. Paul's
Cemetery, Halifax, having died in that city on October 23, 1798, aged 67 years.

The Townsend family at Louisbourg descended from him and has in its possession a
glass flask upon which are moulded various Masonic emblems including an arch with
keystone, sun and moon, which it is said belonged to Gregory Townsend.

—864—

Army of Occupation

In August 1758, the 22nd, 28th, 40th and 45th Regiments were assigned to garrison
duty under General Edward Whitmore as Governor.

The Grenadier Companies of the 22nd, 40th and 45th Regiments, however, were
organized and trained as a separate unit of 241 men under Lieut. Col. Alexander Murray
of the 45th and placed in the 3rd Brigade for the attack on Quebec. In the attack on
Montmorenci, the grenadiers lost 80 officers and men killed and wounded. In the Battle of
the Plains they were on the right of the line, and were led by General Wolfe. Following the
Battle, the grenadier companies were returned to their several units.

In the garrison there were the following Masonic Lodges:

Whitmore's 22nd Regiment with Lodge No. 251 (Irish)
Bragg's 28th Regiment with Lodge No. 35 (Irish)
Hopson's 40th Regiment with Lodge No. 42 (Ancients)

Tradition says that these Lodges were active during the next two years and during the
same period three more Lodges were formed all under New England auspices.

No. 1 in the 28th Regiment, November 13, 1758

No. 2 formed between November 1758 and 1760, possibly in the 45th or the Rangers,
of which there is no record

No. 3 in the Royal Artillery

Lodge No. 1 (Boston)

In the minutes of St. John's Grand Lodge, Boston, under date April 13th, 1759, we
find it recorded that Bro. Richard Gridley, who was at the time J.G.W. of the Grand
Lodge, "at the Request of a Worthy Bror. at Louisburgh, had granted a Deputation to a
Number of Brothers to Hold a Lodge in His Majesty's Twenty Eighth Regiment of Foot
at Louisburgh, and he presented the Grand Lodge with a copy of the Deputation"
(Mass. p. 59)

(Seal) "To the Right Worshipfull & Loving Brethren of the Ancient & Honorable Society
of Free & Accepted Masons Regularly Congregated —

Congregated —

Know Ye that the Right Worshipfull Jeremy Gridley Esqr. Grand Master of all Such
places in North America where no other Grand Master is appointed. By His Commission
to me Granted to Congregate all Free & Accepted Masons anywhere within his district and
Form them into one or more Lodges as I shall think fit and to appoint Wardens and all
other officers to a Lodge appertaining. Have by Virtue thereof Congregated & Formed a
Lodge in His Majesty's Twenty Eighth Regiment of Foot, & Constituted Our Right
Worshipfull Brother Edward Huntingford Master to Hold a Lodge in said Regiment in
North America with Power to appoint Wardens & all other officers to a Lodge appertain-
ing hereby Giving to such Lodge all the Privileges and Authority of Stated Lodges &
enjoin them to conform themselves to the Constitutions & ancient Customs of Masonry, &
from Time to Time to transmit the names of the Members & all Persons that shall be made
Masons in such Lodge with their Charity for the Relief of Indigent Brothers to the Grand
Secretary at Boston.

—865—

Given under my hand & Seal at Louisburgh this 13th of November 1758 and of
Masonry 5758.

Richard Gridley.G.M."

Accompanying the copy of the Deputation is a list of officers and members as follows:

Edward Hungtingford, Mas. John Prosser Thomas Jones

John Sunderland, S. W. Henry McQuade Walter Tate

Wm. Mulholland, J.W. John Hinds Thos. Brooks

John Broadbelt, Secty. David Blakly John Walsh

Michael Walsh Patt McMannus Edward Bready

John Bready Wm. Phillips James Fariter

Joseph Williams Geo. Williams Adam Tate

John Litde Dav. Henderson

The John Prosser mentioned in this list came to Halifax in 1749, with CornwaUis; he
had been a private in Irwin's Reg't, and re-enlisted in the 28th in 1757. (Akins, p. 547)

The Louisbourg Lodge is referred to in the Minutes of the St. John's Grand Lodge
until April 1767, nearly always as "not represented" but it is unlikely that the Lodge, if
active during this period, was in touch with the Grand Lodge in Boston.

Edward Huntingford is mentioned as the Commanding Officer of the Regiment at
Louisbourg by Graham in his History of Freemsisonry in Quebec (1892) followed by
Gould in his Military Lodges (1899) and by others. This seems to be an error for a more
recent search in the Regimental records indicates that he was a private in Captain Thomas
Span's Company, and in the muster of April 25, to October 1760, he is shown as having
died April 28, in that year. During the period 1759 to 1773, the 28th Regiment was under
the command of General George Townshend. (per A. J.B. Milborne)

Louisbourg (Louisburgh) Grenadiers

This corps was organized in the garrison at Louisbourg about May 1st, 1759 before
being transferred to the next scene of action at Quebec in 1759. In its origin it consisted of
the grenadier companies of the 1st (Royal) Regiment, the 17th, 22nd and 40th Regiments.
This corps was augmented at Quebec by the grenadier companies of the 45th and 56th
Regiments. All of these six Regiments except the 56th had at the time Irish Lodges.

In the History of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, vol. 2, p. 305, reference is made to a
warrant in this Corps. This may have been No. 2 dispensation issued by Jeremy Gridley
(see below) in 1759.

The Royal Artillery and Lodge No. 3

The artillery at the siege of Louisbourg in 1758 consisted of 267 men under the
command of Colonel George Williamson, a member of the Craft. (Mass. Proc. vol. i, p. 58)

This company of artillery under Colonel Williamson moved on in 1759 to the siege of
Quebec where the number of men in Wolfe's return of June 5, 1759 shows 21 officers and
309 men.

In the Massachusetts Proceedings 1916, p. 24, we find the copy of a certificate
granted to Benj. Frothingham, May 5, 1760, by Lodge No. 3 held in the Royal Artillery at
Louisbourg, reading as follows:

—866—

"In the East a Place of Light, where Reigns Silence and Peace.

We the Master, Wardens and Secretary of Lodge No. 3 Held in his Majesty's Royal
Artillery at Louisbourg, Adorn'd with all their honours and Assembled in due form, do
hereby certifie declare and Attest, to all men Enlightened, Spread over the face of the
Earth, that the Bearer hereof Mr. Benj" Frothingham, has been Accepted of in this Lodge
as a Regular made Master Mason, and he may be safely Admitted and Rec" into any
Society of Free and Accepted Masons, to whom this Greeting may come. Given under our
hands and Seal at Louisbourg this 5th day of May in the Year of Masonry 5760 and
Salvation 1760.

Tho^ Keating, M.M.

Wm. Stuartson ) ^^^^^^
Jn° Davis )

Edw^ Mitchell
SecV

The No. 3 would seem to indicate that it was the third Lodge established at Louis-
bourg by Jeremy Gridley, the first being the Lodge in the 28th Regiment and the second a
Lodge formed apparently between November 13, 1758 and May 5th, 1760.

In the minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge, Boston, for 1763, we find the name of Benj.
Frothingham "made in the Lodge at Louisburgh". Later we find him an influential
member of King Solomon's Lodge, Charlestown, Mass., organized in 1783, and of the
Grand Lodge.

Excerpt from "Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts - 1883"

"The first Junior Warden was Benjamin Frothingham, whose zeal, energy and skilful
command in the war of the Revolution had gained the affections of his fellow-soldiers,
and won the applause of the great Commander-in-Chief.

He was a cabinet-maker, and after the war rebuilt his house and shop, in which for a
quarter of a century he lived and wrought, enjoying the full respect and confidence of all
who knew him.

His name has been a word of love and honor in this enterprising town and city
always, not only by the virtues of private life and the integrities of public trusts, but for the
genius that could nobly tell the story of municipal growth and paint the varied incidents of
a siege."

A J.W.'s jewel presented to him by his Lodge is in the Grand Lodge Museum in
Boston.

Isaac De Coster or Da Costa

Another Louisbourg Mason was Isaac De Coster named as first Master of
St. Andrew's Lodge, Boston, in a petition forwarded to the Grand Lodge of Scotland in
1752, and signed by him and others. (I Mass. p. 440-43)

From correspondence in the hands of the writer of this paper, it would seem clear that
De Coster was made a Mason in the Lodge at Annapolis Royal about 1738 when he was an
employee there of the Board of Ordnance.

—867—

He was in Boston in April 1756 and in London in December of that year. He served in
the Loudoun expedition of 1757, and in the siege of 1758, and later became a member of
Lodge No. 2, (Ancients) in Halifax in 1756-60. His correspondence with his Boston
friends is very enlightening as well as amusing. The Scottish warrant was granted on
November 30, 1756.

On the fall of Louisbourg, Brigadier Whitmore was appointed Governor and left in
charge with the 32nd, 28th, 40th, and 45th Foot and one company of Rangers. During
the winter of 1758-59, the 35th was distributed between Annapolis (5 companies) St. John
River (3 companies) and Windsor (2 companies) and the 15th, 58th and 60th (3rd and 4th
Battalions) were in Halifax. General Amherst with the rest of the army sailed to Boston to
reinforce Abercromby at Lake George.

On May 18, 1759, the fleet for the attack on Quebec began to assemble at
Louisbourg, and conveyed thither the 15th, 28th, 35th, 43rd, 47th, 48th, 58th, 2nd and 3rd
Battalions of the 60th and the 78th along with the Louisbourg Grenadiers, Rangers and
Royal Artillery.

On February 9th, 1760, the British government ordered the demolition of the fortress
of Louisbourg. The work began immediately on receipt of orders by General Whitmore,
commanding officer, on May 25th, 1760. In the next four months the fortifications were
mined and blown up, every glacis levelled, the ditches filled up, the citadel, west gate and
curtain destroyed. Barracks accommodation for only 3(X) men was left and the balance of
the garrison transferred to Halifax.

The garrison at this time was Warburton's (45th) Regiment, which included a number
of prominent Freemasons, to whom reference has already been made, though no Masonic
Lodge was warranted until 1766.

The interesting ruins still in existence afford abundant evidence of the great strength
of this fortification.

The now deserted site of Louisbourg, with its dramatic and tragic history, its wealth
of romantic traditions and its haunting charm, exerts a subtle yet powerful influence upon
the mind of the visitor. Historically, it is one of the most interesting places on the North
American continent.

For the Masonic historian it is of special interest because of the great Masonic leaders
who assembled here and promoted at least the social side of the Fraternity.

Today the Louisbourg of our story is beginning to emerge from the pile of ruins left
by the British in 1760. Excavation and restoration is going on and will continue until the
whole area has taken on much of its former character, in so far as streets and moats, sites
of buildings of importance, such as the governor's residence, the great hospital, barracks,
the Chapel, the principal bastions, gates and earthworks are concerned.

—868-

No. 47

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH
ASSOCIATION

1959

The Story of

The Elgin Lodge

and

Other Scottish Lodges in

The Province of Quebec

by
V. W. BRO. FRED M. DRISCOLL

I I Read at the 25th Meeting of the Association held at

Montreal, P.Q., February 20, 1959

»>«■ ■■ M^^H IH^^H^^H n^i»»» H ■■■

-869—

The Story of The Elgin Lodge and Other
Scottish Lodges in the Province of Quebec

by V. W. Bro. F. M. Driscoll, P.C.O. (Que.)

The Grand Lodge of Quebec was formed in 1869 — one hundred
and ten years after Freemasonry was established in this Province. During
that period, the Grand Lodge of Scotland had set up a Provincial Grand
Lodge of Canada East (or Lower Canada). There were a number of
lodges warranted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland which were held in
British regiments serving in Lower Canada, concerning whose activities
little is known.

Military Lodges

One of such lodges was Fort St. George Lodge Xo. 100. held in the
31st Regiment (The East Surrey Regiment). This Lodge was warranted
May 2Z, 1760. It became dormant in 1852. This Regiment also held
another Scottish warrant for St. George Lodge Xo. 108. This latter
lodge appears on the list of lodges under the Provincial Grand Lodge of
Lower Canada from 1780 to 1788. without a number. It was finally
erased in 1816. In 1787, when the Regiment was stationed at St. John's,
Lower Canada, a certificate was issued to William Bell, who was leaving
the Regiment. The certificate was signed by James Blonchard, W.M.;
Peter Donker, S.W., and Hugh Rankin, J.W. In the absence of the
secretary, who was on duty, Peter Donker signed for him.

Another Scottish warrant was held in the 4th Regiment (King's own
Royal Regiment). This Regiment was in the City of Quebec in 1796.
This Lodge was named United Lodge No. 147 and the warrant was
dated February 6, 1769. It lasted forty years, being erased in 1809.

Royal Thistle Lodge No. 289, whose warrant was dated February 1,
1808, was held in the First Regiment (Royal Scots). This regiment was
in the City of Quebec in 1814. One of its members, J. Rylands, became
a member of Merchant's Lodge No. 40 E.R. (Ancients). This Lodge
became dormant in 1842.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland authorized the issue of a warrant to
establish Lodge Pittefrand in the 55th Regiment on November 30, 1743.
It was not allotted a number and Scottish Masonic authorities are
doubtful if the warrant was ever issued. The Regiment is known to
have been in Montreal in 1760 after participation in the Siege of Louis-
bourg in 1758. If the Lodge was established, it was the first military
lodge to be warranted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

Provincial Grand Lodges

As early as 1757, the Grand Lodge of Scotland set up a Provincial
Grand Lodge of North America. Colonel John Young, who served in the

—870—

British Army under General Wolfe as commanding officer of the 60th
Regiment (Royal Americans) and who, at the time, held the office of
Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland to which he had
been appointed in 1736, received a patent from the Grand Lodge of
Scotland in 1757. This patent appointed him Provincial Grand Master
over all Scottish lodges in America. Later, a similar patent was issued
to James Law, dated May 5, 1834. James Law was succeeded by Sir
Allan Napier MacNab, of Hamilton, as Provincial Grand Master of
Canada, in 1842.

Under the Act of 1840, the Provinces of Upper Canada and Lower
Canada (now Ontario and Quebec respectively) were united in 1841,
to form the Province of Canada, and the original provinces were there-
after designated Canada West and Canada East. Montreal became the
capital of a united Canada in 1844 and confederation was not to come for
another twenty-three years.

In 1844, Sir Allan Napier MacNab was appointed Provincial Grand
Master with jurisdiction over both Canada West and Canada East, al-
though there were no Scottish lodges in Canada East at the time.

Finally Dr. George A. Baynes was appoined Provincial Grand Master
of Canada East in 1878. He was destined to play an important role in
leading the Scottish lodges in Quebec into the ranks of the Grand
Lodge of Quebec.

Until the Grand Lodge of Quebec was formed in 1869, there was a
succession of other Grand Lodges in Quebec, deriving their authority
from the two rival Grand Lodges in England.

The first Provincial Grand Lodge of English register was that set up
by the Grand Lodge of "Moderns," England, in the City of Quebec
in 1759. Another Grand body in England, with the title "The Grand
Lodge of England (Ancients)" claimed their institution was derived from
the charter granted by Prince Edwin at York in the year 926. Prince
Edward, father of Queen Victoria, arrived in Quebec in 1791, with the
7th Royal Fusiliers, of which he was colonel. Although Prince Edward
was a member of a "Modern" lodge, the "Ancients" issued a Patent,
on March 7, 1792, appointing him as Provincial Grand Master of Lower
Canada, which title he held until 1813, when he was elected Grand
Master of the "Ancients" in England. There is no record of the "healing"
of the prince from "Modern" to "Ancient," and presumably his first
submission to the latter body was made on his installation, (l)

At about the same time, R. W. Bro. WilHam Jarvis, who was Pro-
vincial Secretary to his Excellency Governor Simcoe, was appointed Pro-
vincial Grand Master of Upper Canada and occupied that office until
1822. His duties under Prince Edward were merely to issue dispensa-

(1) J. Ross Robertson's "History of Freemasonry in Canada"

—871—

tions, but, in defiance of the terms of his authority, he issued warrants
for some twenty-six lodges, and set up a Grand Lodge at Niagara, later
moving to York (now Toronto). A rival grand body continued to operate
from Niagara. During this period of discontent, efforts were made to have
the Grand Lodge of England intervene, but without success.

In 1842, R. W. Bro. Ziba M. Phillips, an able member of the Kingston
Masonic Convention, undertook, with considerable zeal, to attempt a re-
vival of interest in the Craft. All through these difficult times, appeals to
the Grand Lodge of England remained unheeded, and, finally, in despe-
ration, the Convention declared for the immediate establishment of a
Grand Lodge, choosing R. W. Bro. Phillips to preside over it as Grand
Master.

Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada

Probably the most important and interesting epoch in the history of
the Craft in Canada from the time of R. W. Bro. Jarvis' authority as
Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada was the period 1852 to 1855,
when the Craft began to chafe at the intolerable attitude of silence by
the Grand Lodge of England to Canada's many demands. The irritation
passed the grumbling stage when, in 1852, a delegate, at the semi-annual
communication, gave notice of motion to petition the Grand Lodge of
England to authorize the Provincial Grand Lodge to exercise control
over Masonic affairs in its jurisdiction. This was the germ that created
the Grand Lodge of Canada which was formed in the City of Hamilton
in 1855, with representatives from 41 lodges in Canada West and 13
lodges in Canada East — all holding allegiance to English and Scottish
lodges.

The Grand Lodge of Canada ruled Masonry in Canada East and
Canada West until the confederation of the Canadian provinces in 1867
under one government. <^2) One of the lodges from Canada East that
sent a representative was St. Andrew's Lodge No. 356, S.R. This lodge
later decided not to join the newly formed Grand Lodge of Canada but
did join the Grand Lodge of Quebec in 1869.

Grand Lodge of Quebec

With the birth of the Confederation of Canada, an agitation grew to
form a separate Grand Lodge in the Province of Quebec, formerly
Canada East.

On August 12, 1869, "a large and influential assembly of Free Masons,
hailing from different Grand Lodges exercising jurisdiction in the Pro-
vince of Quebec, was held in the City of Montreal. "(-5) It was agreed
to adjourn until September 24th, at which time it was resolved that a
committee comprising R. W. Bro. John H. Isaacson, P.D.D.G.M.;
R. W. Bro. John H. Graham, P.D.D.G.M.; R. W. Bro. Alex Murray,

(2) Paper by the late Will H. Whyte, G.S., G.L.Q.

(3) Minutes of the organization meeting of the Grand Lodge of Quebec.

—872—

P.D.D.G.M., and R. W. Bro. Thomas Milton, P.M. wait upon the
M.W. the G.M. of the Grand Lodge of "Canada," M. W. Bro. A. A.
Stevenson, of Montreal, to consider the advisability of establishing an
independent Grand Lodge in this province."

The committee duly waited upon M. W. Bro. Stevenson, and reported
back to the "assemblie" that "the M. W. the G.M. of Canada refused in
a most peremptory manner to call together his Grand Lodge" to consider
their request. (4)

For the next five years, there was an impasse, due to the firm refusal
by the Grand Lodge of Canada to allow any transfer of allegiance of their
Craft lodges. They sternly forbade any Mason to have dealings with the
new Grand Lodge of Quebec. Notwithstanding this, the leaders in
Quebec pressed forward. On October 20, 1869, the first meeting of the
new Grand Lodge was called, at which 21 lodges were represented. Of
these, 18 held warrants from the Grand Lodge of Canada, two from the
Grand Lodge of England and one, St. Andrew's Lodge No. 356 S.R.

This Scottish Lodge was originally formed by members of Sussex
Lodge No. 22 E.R. in 1849 under a dispensation, receiving its warrant
dated March 10, 1851. St. Andrew's Lodge No. 356 S.R. was represented
at the meeting by R. W. Bro. John Soles Bowen. He was subsequently
elected to be the first Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Quebec. St. Andrew's Lodge joined the Grand Lodge of Quebec at the
first call on October 20, 1869, and is presently working under No. 6 on
the Quebec register.

One of the resolutions unanimously concurred in at the organizational
meeting was that "every lodge concurring in the promotion of the Grand
Lodge of Quebec shall have authority granted to them for the purpose
of continuing their work for the space of two (2) months . . . and should
they fail to fulfil their engagement within the specified time, then all
protection from the Grand Lodge of Quebec will cease." (5)

The Grand Lodge of Quebec chartered a new St. Andrew's Lodge
No. 53 in 1872. This Lodge is a daughter lodge of The Elgin Lodge
No. 348 S.R., and surprisingly retained the workings of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland. This error was probably due to the pre-occupation of the
Grand Lodge of Quebec at the time with other more pressing matters.

The dispute with the Grand Lodge of Canada over territorial sov-
ereignty was finally resolved in 1874. At that time, there remained in this
jurisdiction only four lodges owning allegiance to foreign Grand bodies:
St. Paul's Lodge No. 374 E.R.; St. George's Lodge No. 440 E.R.; St.
Lawrence Lodge No. 640 E.R.; and The Elgin Lodge No. 348 S.R.

(4) Ibid Page 4.

(5) Ibid Page 12.

—873—

The three lodges warranted by the Grand Lodge of England had the
choice of remaining under the Grand Lodge of England or throwing in
their lot with the Grand Lodge of Quebec. They elected to remain loyal
to their mother Grand Lodge.

As a matter of interest, the Grand Lodge of Quebec did not receive
formal recognition from the Grand Lodge of England until 1906, on the
understanding that no new lodges from that Grand Body would enter
our territory, and that any interference with the three existing lodges,
would result in withdrawal of recognition and fraternal relations by the
Grand Lodge of England. An exchange of representatives was made.
M. W. Bro. the Earl of Amherst accepted a commission from the Grand
Lodge of Quebec and M.W. Bro. Sir Melbourne M. Tait, Chief Justice of
the Province of Quebec, received a commission from the Grand Lodge of
England. Unfortunately, the three lodges of English register were with-
out official supervision of any kind by their Grand Lodge from 1893 to
1955.(6)

Following upon official recognition in 1906, St. Lawrence Lodge No.
640 l-L.R. transferred allegiance to the Grand Lodge of Quebec on October
20, 1906. It is present!}' working under Xo. 14 on the Quebec register.

The Elgin Lodge

There was one lodge, however, whicii tlid not reply to the organ-
izational call on October 20. 1869. The Elgin Lodge Xo. 348 S.R., holding
a warrant dated May 3, 1847, held aloof, in spite of twelve years of
persistent pressure from the new Grand Lodge of Quebec.

M. W. Bro. John H. Graham, in his "Outlines of the History of
r^'eemasonry in the Province of Quebec," says that, at a meeting of
Free and Accepted Masons in Montreal on February 8. 1847, 18 brethren
decided to form a lodge, holding from the Grand Lodge of Scotland.*-"^
A comniittec, comprising Bros. Torrey, Macpherson and Balfour, waited
upon the Governor-General, the Earl of Elgin, to solicit his permission
to name the lodge for his lordship, which was graciously granted on
February 15, 1847.

These brethren received their warrant, dated May 3, 1847, for the
establishment of "Tlie Elgin Lodge of Montreal," and later were alloted
No. 348 from the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Some of the petitioners had
been members of the military lodge Unity, Peace and Concord Xo. 316
E.R., whose original number was Xo. 574 E.R. (Moderns) and whose
warrant was dated 1798. This lodge was held in the First Regiment Foot
and was, for a time, attached to the 2nd Battalion, l*'irst Royal Scots
Foot, when serving in India in 1808. A minute book of Unity, Peace and
Concord Lodge Xo. 316 E.R., covering the period 1808 to 1836, is in
the archives of The Elgin Lodge.

(6) Proceedings of Ouatuor Coronati Lodge, Vol. LXX.

(7) C'lrahain's History Page 177.

—874—

The first meeting of The Elgin Lodge was held on August 16, 1847,
when the charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland was presented and
read by the secretary. Six candidates were initiated that evening, R. W.
Bro. Alexander Courtney was elected R. W. Master and was installed on
St. John's Night by W. Bro. W. M. Browne, W. M. of Zetland Lodge
No. 371 E.R.

The present Earl of Elgin graciously accepted honorary membership
in The Elgin Lodge in 1923 and always pays a visit to his Montreal
lodge when he is in Canada on his frequent visits.

Many attempts were made by some of the brethren of The Elgin
Lodge to obtain from the Grand Lodge of Scotland recognition of the
Grand Lodge of Quebec, so that fraternal intercourse could be held with
their Quebec brethren. For example, in March, 1870, Bro. Rose, feeling
the need for such fraternal relations, gave notice that he would move, at
the next regular meeting of his lodge, "to request the Grand Lodge of
Scotland to recognize the Grand Lodge of Quebec. "(^8) The die-hard
Scots in the lodge at that time and on other occasions defeated such
motion.

Later, the R. W. Master ruled that all members of The Elgin Lodge
who also joined a lodge adhering to the Grand Lodge of Quebec would be
immediately suspended. Later still, in August, 1874, after the differences
between the Grand Lodge of Canada and the Grand Lodge of Quebec
had been settled. The Elgin Lodge through its Worshipful Master reserved
its stand and ruled that, since amity once more prevailed between the
Grand Lodge of Canada and the Grand Lodge of Quebec, the doors of
The Elgin Lodge be opened once more to members of the Grand Lodge
of Quebec.

Another attempt was made by the Grand Lodge of Quebec, in June,
1876, to prevail on the remaining four lodges to confer with them with a
view to "amicable junction of said lodges within this jurisdiction. "(9) The
three lodges under English register again ignored the invitation. The
Elgin Lodge however, replied that "this lodge resolved to continue their
allegiance to the Grand Lodge of Scotland. "OO)

In January, 1877, M. W. Bro. John H. Isaacson, Grand Secretary of
the Grand Lodge of Quebec at the time, wrote to the Grand Lodge of
Scotland, requesting "recognition on the basis of supreme Masonic juris-
diction in and over the Province of Quebec. "Hi)

This was granted by the Grand Lodge of Scotland in May, 1877.
Thereupon, a resolution was adopted at the 8th Communication of the
Grand Lodge of Quebec to the effect that, since fraternal relations and
formal recognition had been established between Quebec and Scotland "a

(8) Minutes of The Elgin Lodge 1870.

(9) 7th Communication of the Grand Lodge of Quebec.

(10) Ibid.

(11) Ibid.

—875—

definite period now be fixed when (the Lodge now operating in the
Province) shall return its charter and receive from this Grand Lodge
a duplicate thereof." January 1, 1878 was fixed as the ultimate date.

Two New Scottish Lodges

To the consternation of the Quebec brethren, at the quarterly com-
munication of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, held May, 1878, charters
were granted for two additional lodges in the City of Montreal: King
Solomon Lodge No. 622 and Argyle Lodge No. 625. Naturally, this un-
expected action blew up quite a storm.

When he was informed of the granting of the charters, our Grand
Master lost no time in issuing a proclamation, dated June 21, 1878. The
proclamation declared "such action on the part of the Grand Lodge of
Scotland as an unjustifiable and unlawful invasion of our territory and
jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge, declaring the warrants irregular and
suspending intercourse between this Grand Lodge . . . and the Grand
Lodge of Scotland."(i2)

The whole situation was most unhappy, and two Grand Lodges, New
Brunswick and Illinois, promptly took action to protest the stand taken
by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. (i-^) Similar action followed by nearly
every Grand Lodge in North America.

Our Grand Master, in his address at the 9th Communication of
Grand Lodge, held September, 1878, reviewed the situation at length. He
informed the brethren that the Grand Lodge of Scotland had "revised"
its interpretation of recognition of our Grand Lodge in that they could
not accede to our demand of the severence of allegiance of The Elgin
Lodge, and, rather than accede, they would recall their commission to our
Grand Lodge, which they did, peremptorily, on December 3, 1878.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland in granting recognition to the Grand
Lodge of Quebec, acted on the grounds that, in agreeing, in May, 1877,
to acknowledge Quebec as a Grand Lodge, expressly reserved its juris-
diction over its Lodge, The Elgin Lodge, at Montreal, in the event of
that Lodge desiring to continue its connection with the Grand Lodge of
Scotland. They were merely supporting the position of the Grand Lodge
of England at that time. This qualified resolution the body in Quebec
refused to accept. The Grand Lodge of Scotland, when it passed the
resolution in question, declared that it was not informed of the claim by
the Grand Lodge of Quebec to absolute and exclusive jurisdiction "within
the Province of Lower Canada."

(12) Freemasonry in the Province of Quebec, by K. W. Bro. A. J. B. Milborn'e.

(13) 10th Communication of the Grand Lodge of ()uenec.

—876—

The Grand Lodge of Scotland, in a report presented to its com-
munication held in August, 1878, continues:

"In its application of January, 1877, for recognition,
(the Grand Lodge of Quebec) simply desired recognition
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland and to be in fraternal
intercourse with it. Grand Lodge, in disposing of the
application, was thus not aware of Quebec's pretentions.
. . . Had the body at Quebec frankly stated its demands
in its application, the present difficulty would not have
occurred, for Grand Lodge would have refused its recog-
nition on such conditions. "(14)

This position, however, was untenable, since M. W. Bro. J. H.
Graham, in a letter to the Grand Lodge of Scotland, dated April 7, 1873,
set forth that claim.

The Grand Lodge of Scotland took the position that The Elgin Lodge,
having been in existence prior to the formation of the Grand Lodge of
Canada in 1855, was not subject to the Grand Lodge of Quebec, and even
if the Grand Lodge of Canada recognized the Grand Lodge of Quebec
as having control of jurisdiction in the "Province of Lower Canada," it
still did not convey jurisdiction of other grand bodies which it did not
possess. They argued that the Grand Lodge of Canada having ceased
to exercise jurisdiction in the Province of Lower Canada, that province
was now open territory and in the same position as it was prior to the
formation of the Grand Lodge of Quebec. The Grand Lodge of Scotland
completely ignored the confederation of the provinces in 1867, and
repeatedly referred to Quebec as the "Province of Lower Canada."
Obviously, such a position could not be maintained.

Three days after the Grand Lodge of Quebec issued its proclamation,
on June 21, 1878, the two new lodges of Scottish register were instituted
in St. Paul's Lodge Room by R. W. Bro. (Dr.) George A. Baynes, who
was Master of The Elgin Lodge at the time. It so happened that the
Grand Lodge of Scotland in the previous year had appointed Dr. Baynes
as Provincial Grand Master of Canada East, after an interim period of
twenty-seven years, during which the Scottish Provincial Grand Lodge
was without a Provincial Grand Master.

In the same year that the two new lodges were instituted — 1878 — a
petition was finally sent to the Grand Lodge of Scotland by the brethren
of The Elgin Lodge for permission to transfer their allegiance to the
Grand Lodge of Quebec. (15) The Grand Lodge of Scotland strenuously
objected and censured Dr. Baynes for having conferred with members of
the Grand Lodge of Quebec. His commission as Provincial Grand Master
was forthwith cancelled. (16)

Matters stood still for a while, pending reaction of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland to the volume of condemnation received. Finally, at a meeting
held September 29, 1880, the three Scottish lodges in Montreal agreed

(14) Freemasonrv in the Province of Ouebec, bv R. W. Bro. A. J. B. Milborne.

(15) Ibid.

(16) Ibid.

—877—

to resign their allegiance to the Grand Lodge of Scotland and come under
the Grand Lodge of Quebec on the following terms:

"The said lodges to return their present warrants, which
shall be endorsed by the Grand Master for the Grand
Lodge of Quebec, (retain) their mode of work, the rank
of their officers (who will bear the same titles as officers
holding similar rank in the Grand Lodge of Scotland),
their clothing and lodge property, and said lodges to be
put to no expense in joining the said Grand Lodge of
Quebec."

The Scottish lodges retired from this meeting, to reconvene on
October 8, 1880, when it was decided to recommend to the Grand Lodge
of Scotland to accept the terms, suljject to the immediate suspension of the
proclamation of non-intercourse issued by the Grand Lodge of Quebec
and to the removal of suspension of all members under the Scottish
constitution, pending final cession of territory now occupied by the
Grand Lodge of Scotland.

On October 13, 1880, the delegates from the three Scottish lodges
informed the Grand Lodge of Quebec that the Grand Lodge of Scotland
had officially expressed their willingness to allow the said lodges to
become of obedience to the Grand Lodge of Quebec.

A committee was then appointed by the Grand Lodge of Quebec,
comprising Thomas White, James Dunbar, Melbourne M. Tait, John
Isaacson and T. P. Butler. The Scottish lodges appointed Dr. Baynes,
C. D. Hanson, William McWood, W. S. Walker and Henry Stewart.

Thereupon, the committee from the Grand Lodge of Quebec waited
upon the Scottish lodges and invited them to attend an emergent com-
munication of the Grand Lodge of Quebec on January 27, 1881, for the
purpose of "acting on matters in connection with the lodges in this juris-
diction now holding warrants from the Grand Lodge of Scotland."

The three Scottish lodges were welcomed formally into the Grand
Lodge of Quebec at 1 1 p.m. January 27, 1881, with grand honours and
great rejoicing. Thus ended twelve years of distressing correspondence
and heart-breaking negotiations.

The 1947 edition of the by-laws of The Elgin Lodge has this to say
on the final result:

"The members of Elgin Lodge . . . were eventually
rewarded for their persistence by return of the Scottish
charter to be presented to the Grand Lodge of Quebec
on January 27, 1881."

Until February, 1884, The Elgin Lodge worked without a Quebec
number. Their minutes record their meetings as "Elgin Lodge, formerly
No. 348 S.R." The Grand Lodge of Quebec, at the time of union with the
Scottish Lodges, offered The Elgin Lodge number 7 on the Quebec
register, which was vacant, as the charter of Prevost Lodge No. 7 Q.R.
had been cancelled.

—878—

Prevost Lodge

Prevost Lodge No. 7 had experienced internal difficulties. The mem-
bership of this old lodge voted to join the Grand Lodge of Quebec on
formation, but a few dissident brethren, led by R. W. Bro. Pickle of
Royal Canadian Lodge at Sweetsburg, endeavoured, with some success,
to maintain the supremacy of the Grand Lodge of Canada over the Craft
lodges in Quebec. In spite of efforts over the years to bring about a
reconciliation between the two factions, a duplicate warrant was issued
by the Grand Lodge of Canada to the dissident brethren. The original
number of Prevost Lodge was No. 1 C.R., and on joining Quebec, was
allotted No. 7. The <iissident brethren worked under duplicate No. 1 C.R.
However, in 1874, when recognition by the Grand Lodge of Canada
was finally achieved, there were two Prevost Lodges. The second lodge
was allotted No. 8, in 1877. Finally, in 1897, the question of amalgamation
of the two Prevost lodges was brought to a conclusion with Prevost
Lodge No. 7 expressing its willingness to unite with Prevost Lodge No. 8
"provided the amalgamated lodge work under the charter which Prevost
Lodge No. 7 had in its possession and also that the old number "7" be
restored to them. (17)

The original Prevost Lodge No. 7 showed signs of decay from the
competition of the duplicate Prevost Lodge, and in 1875, it practically
ceased to exist. In 1883, the Grand Secretary reported the lodge in
arrears and the following year, the Committee on the State of Masonry
recommended that the warrant be recalled. As a result, number 7 was
declared vacant and awarded to The Elgin Lodge. At length, the two
Prevost lodges agreed to amalgamate, as stated earlier, but The Elgin
Lodge would not give up its No. 7. Thus the amalgamated lodges were
compelled to work under No. 8.

This controversy surrounding Prevost Lodge was an unfortunate
episode in the records of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, since it was the
original Prevost Lodge that surrendered its historic warrant No. 1 from
the Grand Lodge of Canada to join the Grand Lodge of Quebec. It
actually carried on until 1897, although it is recorded as "lapsed" in 1877.

It only remains to deal briefly with the other two Scottish Lodges,
King Solomon Lodge No. 622 and Argyle Lodge No. 625, with a passing
reference to Montreal-Kilwinning Lodge No. 20 Q.R.

There does not appear to have been the same difficulty in Argyle
Lodge as in The Elgin Lodge. R. W. Bro. William McWood, the first
Master of Argyle Lodge, was also a member of The Elgin Lodge and
supported the Elgin Lodge in its conflict with the Grand Lodge of
Quebec. However, once the difficulties with the Grand Lodge of Scot-
land were removed, he was one of the delegates who led xA.rgyle Lodge
into union with the Grand Lodge of Quebec.

(17) Freemasonry in the District of Bedford, by M. W. Bro. Homer A. Mitchell.

—879—

No records appear to have survived of King Solomon Lodge. The
minutes have disappeared. M. W. Bro. J. H. Graham, in his History, Hsts
its first officers. It is probable that this lodge was a daughter lodge of
The Elgin Lodge, as was Argyle Lodge, in the sense that the members
who formed the two lodges were also members of The Elgin Lodge.
King Solomon Lodge lasted only eleven years after joining the Grand
Lodge of Quebec, lapsing in 1892.

Montreal-Kilwinning Lodge No. 1 Q.R., however, had no connection
with the Grand Lodge of Scotland, in spite of its honoured name. When
the Lodge was instituted in 1859 by warrant from the Grand Lodge of
CanadaOS)^ the first Master was John Boyd, who hailed from the little
town of Kilwinning, Scotland. The brethren wished to honour their
first Master by naming the lodge for his birthplace. This lodge was one
of the lodges that answered the call to form the Grand Lodge of Quebec
in 1869, and was originally allotted No. 13 on the register of the Grand
Lodge of Quebec.

(18) History of Mother Kilwinning, a paper by R. W. Bro. E. P. Hoover.

—880-

«|m^— ■■•

••■^^au^^uii-

• T T i

M !

? No. 48 f I

CANADIAN
MASONIC RESEARCH

THE IRISH CIVILIAN LODGES
IN CANADA

-by-
I M. W. BRO. R. V. HARRIS, P.C.M.

ASSOCIATION

Read at the 25th meeting of the Association
at Montreal, Quebec, February 20th, 1959.

I . *i

—881—

The Irish Civilian Lodges in Canada

1820-88

By R. V. Harris, P.C.M.

Freemasonry in Canada owes a considerable debt to the Grand Lodge
of Ireland. Apart altogether from the great influence of many Irish
Military Lodges in our earlier history before 1820 andsince the impact of
twenty-four civilian Lodges in the period 1821 to 1859 and even later, is of
very great importance and significance.

To understand the full force of this influence, it is necessary to sketch
very briefly the history of each, as found in the Irish and Canadian
records.

To a considerable number were attached Royal Arch Chapters and
several Knight Templar Encampments. Some of these Lodges, Chapters
and K.T. bodies are still with us. Robertson, in his History of Free-
masonry in Canada (Vol. II, p. 707) says that the Irish Lodges in Upper
Canada "may justly claim the honour of initiating the scheme for inde-
pendence that led to the organization of the Grand Lodge of Canada in
1855."

On November 10th, 1853, King Solomon's Lodge No. 222 (Irish
Const.) of Toronto adopted a resolution calling for a Convention of all
the Irish Lodges in the Province, with a view to forming an independent
Grand Lodge of Upper Canada. This first Convention was held November
24th. 1853, at Hamilton. Other Conventions followed in 1854 and 1855, and
on October 10, 1855 the Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of Canada was
formed.

The list of Irish Lodges in Canada as far as the writer has ascertained
is as follows:

Canada West

Lcinstcr No. 283, Kingston, (1821-29) continued until about 1850 under

duplicate Warrant.
St. John's No. 209, London (1841-55) now St. John's No. 20, G.R.C.O. and

St. John's No. 209A, G.R.C.O.
(St. John's R. A. Chapter No. 209, (1843-58) now St. John's No. 6, G.R.C.
St. John's No. 159, Haivkcsbury, (1844-88)— St. John's No. 21 A, G.R.C.O.,

Vankleek Hill.
(St. John's R. A. Chapter No. 159, (1844-88)— St. John's No. 148, G.R.C.
(St. John's K. T. Encampment No. 159, 1850- ?)
Kinc] Solomon's No. 222, Toronto, (1747-56)— King Solomon's No. 22,

G.R.C.O.

—882—

St. Mark's No. 211, Port Stanley, (1850-58)— St. Mark's No. 94, G.R.C.O.
St. John's No. 286, Grand River, (1850-55)— St. John's No. 35, G.R.C.O.

Cayuga.
Hiram No, 226, Ingersoll, (1851-57)— St. John's No. 68, G.R.C.O.
St. John's No. 231, Hamilton, (1852-56)— St. John's No. 40, G.R.C.O.
(St. John's R. A. Chapter No. 231, (1857-?)— now St. John's Chapter No. 6,

G.R.C.O.
(Godfrey de Bouillon Encampment No. 231, (1855-59) — Godfrey de B., No. 3

G.R.C.
St. Thomas No. 232, St. Thoma>s, (1853-55)— St. Thomas No. 44, G.R.C.O.
Brant No. 323, Brantford, (1853-55)— Brant No. 45, G.R.C.O.
St. David's No. 236, Nohleville, (1854-55)— Vaughan No. 54, G.R.C.O. Maple.
Wellington No. 238, Dunnville, (1854-55)

Harmony No. 358, Binbrook, (1855-56) — Harmony No. 57, G.R.C.O. Binbrook,
Wellington No. 359, Startford, (1855-56)

Canada East

Lodge of Social and Military Virtues No. 227 , (1847-55) — Lodge of Soc. and
Mil. Vir. No. 1, G.R.C; (1857) Lodge of Antiquity No. 1, G.R.C;
(1869) Lodge of Antiquity No. 1, G.R.C.

Independent No. 237, Quebec, (1854-60)— Harington No. 49, G.R.C

New Brunswick

Lodge No. 997, Portland, (1820-21) Surrendered warrant 1820.
Hibernian, No. 318, St. Andrew's, (1830-61) — Warrant surrendered 1863.
(Hibernian Chapter No. 318, (1834-62) Ceased working 1862.
(Hibernian Encampment No. 318, (1840-60) Warrant returned 1862.
Hibernia No. 301, Saint John, (1837-68)— Hibernia No. 3, G.R.N. B.
(Hibernia No. 301, Saint John, (1858-68) Name changed 1864 to New

Brunswick Chapter; New Brunswick Chapter No. 10, G.R. Can. (1868-87) ;

New Brunswick Chapter No. 13, G.R.N. B. (1887).
Portland Union No. 324, Portland, (1842-46) — Portland Union No. 780, Eng.

Const. (1846-68) ; Union Lodge of Portland No. 10, G.R.N. B., Saint John

since 1868.
Sussex No. 327, St. Stephen, (1846-67) now No. 7, G.R.N.B. (1868).
(Sussex R. A. Chapter No. 327, St. Stephen, (1851-64) — St. Stephen Chapter

No. 125 (Scot.) 1868-87. Now St. Stephen Chapter No. 7, G.R.N.B.
Leinster No. 347, Carlcton, (1859-69)— Leinster Lodge No. 19, G.R.N.B.

1868-81) Warrant surrendered.

Nova Scotia

McGozvan No. 330, Amherst, (1845-65) Named Acacia No. 14, G.R.N.S., 1867.

Now Acacia No. 8, 1869.
Shamrock No. 331, Halifax, (1853-60) In 1858 H.M.S. "Indus" No. 331,

Warrant returned 1860.

—883—

CANADA WEST

Leinster Lodge No. 283 (G.R.I.) Kingston, Canada West

The first Irish Warrant issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland for a
civil lodge in what is now Canada was issued on February 1st, 1821, to
brethren formerly of that Masonic allegiance, residing at Kingston, Canada
West, and was first called Erin's True Blues but a year later "Duke of
Leinster" Lodge.

The Charter members were: John Gillaway, W.M.; William Chesnut,
S.W.; and Robert Johnston, J.W.; and the number of the Lodge was 283
on the Irish Registry.

,4*

,^3pt^Si^

SIT JLUX ]ET FUIT,

W THE NAME OF THE THREE PERSONS AND ONE COD.

E th« G. M.<— D. G. M. (C. G, of iht imgninimous and invincible
Ord«r of

SIR KNIGHTS TEMPLARS,

H«M under ibcSaDcfion of NaO(J^ dedicittd »o Mo«e> y King SoLomou
in ibe Ancient ind S*cred Liw, Md lo the faithful Soldiff Sr. JOHN of Je
ruulem, in the Gotpel Dispensitmn— Do herrby Ceitifj^ that out Faithful,
Well-beloved BitoTMen and cemoiitd Fiicnd Sir Y{///ta'»'>- ^//.■/tT-

/,, ., . havng duly passed the Eicelleni, Soper-exccl-

lent and Royal-arch Degreea of Natonic Ordf rs, <«as regularly admitie d, ini.
titled and cooArmcd in all the Rights, Titles, Cenmonies, and Mystr i.es ci
•he iDoat Noble, and Christian Older of Sir Knights TtMFiAHS, by l)» in
our Encampment, and that since his lntioduci)on therein, he has diicharged
the relalire Duties of a Sir Knight companion wiih Affection and Integrity —
Having with much excellent SluU, Foriiiude, and Valour, previously wiihstood
tmaziog Triala and resisted various Templariont, preparatory to his admis-
•ion. In Testimony whereof We have hereunto put our Hands »iih the
Triangular Seal of our Encampment. — Given at Couiaiixt^X^ouniy of
LoHDoHDtaay, in the kingdom of lieland, /V^ Dav of ly/^^ /^/Ji
in ih« Year of Maaona* ,;"(>/)"_ and of Grace i W^" '

'^rrt^ '':6Jc^ / l/ii*^i^\V>.

nO-.Rtbtrt Buchanan^ Priiittr^ Lend»nJtrtji:^JS^:^C?i^

G. M.

We have not been able to identify John Gillaway, nor Johnston, nor
their former Lodges, and few Canadian records have been found covering
the early days of the Lodge.

-88.

W E th* Master, Wardews, & Brethren, of LODGE, Nar^/?

Held in the Town of Coleraine, and County of Londonderry, and under
the Grand Registry of Ireland, of ^ — — — — ^

FMEE & ACCEPTED MASONS,

Do Cerpfjr that our Trusty and Well-beloved Brother, _^

iy////^7f Cy^^./^'ty/// - was by US Just and Law-
fully Entered, Passed, and Raic«4 t> that Sublime Degree of a Master
Mason, and is Regularly Registered in the Grand Lodge— and during hts
stay with US, behaved hitnself as • worthy Brother — We therefere Re-
commend him as such, to all Regular Masons round the Globe, whont this
may reach. Given under our Hands and Seal of our Loooi this / V^^
Day of yr^->-Cf-,try^ i8i.^ _ and in the Yearof Masonry»^c^,/*(

^3^

'Ze^

Master.

. i Secretary.

^^'71 . ■ j/f//r/f

r» —

LoMDONPItllT P&IMTID ST r>«llllT BuCNAtfAW.

William Chesnut's original certificate has recently been found among
papers in the Estate of Miss Effie Caroline Chesnut, late of Kingston
Ontario. It is dated February 17th, 1815, was issued by Lodge No. 949 of
Coleraine, County Londonderry, and was signed by Richard Harten,
Master, John Harman and James Dunlap, Wardens; and Frank Stodden,'
Secretary. It states that William Chesnut "was by us just and lawfully
entered, passed and raised."

A certificate from the Grand Lodge of Ireland dated April 18, 1815
and signed by Robert Handcock, Grand Secretary, and W. F. Graham,
D. G. Secretary, confirms the fact that it was in Lodge No. 949 at Cole-
raine that he received his first three degrees in Masonry. His Knight
Templar certificate is dated the same day, and is signed by Richard
Harten, G.M., James Dunlap, D.G.M.; and William Blair and Frank
Stodden. It certifies that he had duly passed the Excellent, Super-
Excellent and Royal Arch Degrees preparatory to his admission. The K.T.
degree was conferred "under the sanction of No. 960 dedicated to Moses
and King Solomon."

—885—

There were other Lodges in' Kingston at the time, namely No. 6,
Provincial Registry, and Dundas Faithful Lodge No. 446, Eng.*(1814) in the
68th Regiment of Foot, then stationed at Kingston. At a convention
of lodges held at Kingston in 1821, presided over by Simon McGillivray,
Provincial Grand Master, steps had been taken to form a Provincial
Grand Lodge, but it was made very plain to the brethren of Leinster
Lodge that they were outside the pale and could not be admitted to the
new Grand Lodge, on the ground "that the conduct of the members is not
orderly as Masons" and further, that this convention "shall keep them-
selves aloof from said Lodge and its members."

Eventually the good offices of Lodge No. 44o brought about a sort of
harmony and peace, and it was agreed among some of the officers in
December 1825 that Lodge No. 6 and Leinster Lodge should be amal-
gamated under the authority of the Provincial Grand Lodge established
by England in 1824. The Secretary of Leinster Lodge was James Robinson
Wright, and pending the receipt of a new Warrant he was persuaded to
hand over the Warrant of tliat Lodge to Simon McGillivray. the Provin-
cial Grand Master, who issued his dispensation to the members of Leinster
Lodge.

*Chartcrcd June 2, ISIO, hx "Ancients" as Xo. 348; number chanijed to 297
in 1832; erased, 1844.

—886—

On learning more fully what had happened, some of the members
wrote to Ireland protesting; whereupon the Grand Lodge wrote the
members of Leinster Lodge urging them not to give up their Warrant, and
asserting that the surrender of the Warrant was "an un-Masonic inter-
ference with the rights and prerogatives of the Grand Lodge of Ireland."

On receipt of this letter, the brethren asked the Provincial Grand
Lodge to return their Irish Warrant, but John Dean, the Provincial
Grand Secretary, replied that it was not in "his power to give up the
Warrant, except by order of the R. W. Provincial Grand Master."

From the records in Ireland it would appear that the original Warrant
of February 1, 1821 was "impounded" by the English Provincial Grand
Lodge of Canada West on December 7th, 1826, and that a duplicate was
issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland dated July 4, 1829. Among the
papers is a copy of the By-laws of Leinster Lodge No. 283, Kingston C.W.
constituted under the new Warrant of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, dated
July 4th, 1829, and containing considerable information respecting the
history of the Lodge from 1821 to 1846.

T'he record in Robertson's History of Freemasonry in Canada (Vol.
II, p. 99, 684-98) ends abruptly in 1829, while the records of the Grand
Lodge of Ireland show that between 1821 and January 15, 1850, ninety
members were registered in the Grand Lodge books. In this period, a
silver P. M.'s jewel was presented by the Duke of Leinster's Lodge to
Bro. William Chesnut 5846, the founder of the Lodge. T*his jewel is in
the Archives of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.

The by-laws of 1846 contain a brief history of the Lodge from
1821-35 after which time it met at Barriefield from 1835-42.

Among the members of Leinster Lodge No, 283 were:

William Chesnut, a member of St. John's Encampment No. 1 at
Kingston 1823-28. He was elected Grand Commander of the Encampment
on May 29th. 1827.

Robert Johnston, also a member of the same Encampment, and very
active in the Knight Templar Order,

Philip Ferguson Hall, Recorder of the Knight Templar Encampment.

The Grand Lodge of Ireland reports that it was not until 1893 that
Warrant No. 283 was actually returned.

See Robertson, History of Freemasonry in Canada I, p. 1087-93.

Hist. Grand Lodge of Ireland II 60-67.

—887—

St. John's Lodge No. 209 (G.R.I.) London, Canada West

The second Irish Lodge to be organized in Upper Canada was formed
in London, Canada West, in 1841, when the Provincial Grand Lodge of the
Province of Canada West was dormant. As there was no other duly
constituted authority, the brethren resolved to apply to the Grand Lodge
of Ireland for a Warrant, which was granted May 6, 1841.

When the Warrant did not reach Canada in reasonable time, applica-
tion was made to Brother Thomas Dillon in Toronto, D.G.M., for Ireland
in Canada West, and he issued a dispensation dated January 11, 1842,
in the following terms:

"London, Province of Canada,

11th day of January 1842.
"Dispensation

Agreeably to a letter received from the Grand Lodge of Ireland,
dated 4th day Oct. 1841, acquainting us that a Warrant has been transmit-
ted from the said (Grand) Lodge to form a new Lodge in London, U.C.,
you are therefore directed to form yourselves into a body for the purpose
of instructing yourselves in Masonry previous to receiving the Warrant.
You are clearly to understand that until you are installed under your
Warrant, 209, (that) you are not to craft or raise anyone to the degree
of a Master Mason.

"I remain, yours respectfully,

"Alex. Barber, WM, Lodge No. 83,
"James Bull, Secty to 83."

"To Samuel Peters, W.M. 209."

Lodge No. 83 was a Lodge working under a field Warrant in the
83rd Regiment of Foot, issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1808
as No. 435, and exchanged for No. 83 in 1811. The Regiment was stationed
in London, at the time, and the D.D.G.M. took advantage of the presence
of the Lodge in London to get prompt action under the circumstances.

The minutes of the new Lodge begin on October 1, 1842, but it is
clear from the record that previous meetings had been held to deal with
the furniture and regalia, and to fix the time for regular meetings and the
place of meeting, William Balkwill's Inn.

T'he missing Warrant, Constitution, Rules and Regulations were
forwarded on September 5, 1842, by Thos. Dillon, with full instructions
as to the conduct of the Lodge. He himself constituted the Lodge on
October 3rd, 1842 "the ceremony being gone through slowly and solemnly."
The Lodge adopted the name of St. John's No. 209.

The first officers were Samuel Peters, W.M.,

Jeremiah Henry Joyce, S.W.,
William Gunn, J.W.,
James Farley, Secretary.

—888—

At the installation members of Lodge No. 83 (Irish) mentioned
above, and No. 396 (Irish) in the 23rd Regiment, were present. The fee
for the three degrees at this time was one pound ten shillings.

At the second meeting three members were made Past Masters of the
Lodge, so that in the absence of the W.M. a P.M. might fill the chair.
Members late in arriving were fined 2d to 1 shilling, and for other
serious offences as unnecessary talking during business.

The minutes of the Lodge from its inception are the usual record
of charity votes, presentations, church services, St. John's Day festivals,
the conferring of degrees, etc. Here and there we find a quaint minute,
such as the resolution of December 27, 1843 "that seven miles be the
length of our cable-tow" and that on December 10, 1844, when the
Secretary was ordered to "redeem a bad Mexican dollar" which he had
taken on the previous June 24th.

In 1843 seventeen meetings were held, and in 1844 no less than 32
meetings, and the membership increased rapidly. On June 24, 1844, at
the invitation of the Rev. Benjamin Cronyn (later Bishop of Huron) the
Lodge laid the cornerstone of St. Paul's Church, now the Cathedral Church
of the Diocese. They also laid the cornerstone of a new Public School
in June 1849.

In August 1845, a new Provincial Grand Lodge was formed at
Hamilton, with Sir Allan Napier MacNab as Provincial Grand Master,
but St. John's Lodge although invited to unite with it, ignored the
invitation.

The Lodge was also active in promoting the formation of lodges
at Port Stanley and Grand River in 1850, at Hamilton in 1851 and at
Ingersoll, all with Warrants from the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
(A comprehensive account of the Lodge will be found in Robertson's
History of Freemasonry in Canada, Vol. II, Chapter XC, p. 591).

Beginning in 1853 we note a trend of opinion in favour of joining the
proposed independent Grand Lodge of Canada, and the Lodge appointed
a delegate to attend the Masonic Convention at Hamilton and in April
and in October, 1855, the Lodges' delegates were instructed to vote for
independence, and the establishment of a Grand Lodge for the United
Provinces of Canada.

On the formation of the new Grand Lodge the Lodge accepted a
new Warrant, No. 14, November 13, 1855, later re-numbered 20.

The Grand Lodge of Ireland was advised that No. 209 "has ceased to
work under their jurisdiction" and "having harmoniously worked for many
years under the Warrant, the brethren request the Grand Lodge to permit
the Warrant to remain among us to be kept in the Lodge" to which the
Grand Lodge agreed.

This was however not the end of the Irish Lodge.

—889—

On November 24, 1857, three members of the Lodge wrote the Lodge
requesting it to deliver up the old Warrant No. 209,, "to permit the
brethren to assemble and work the Royal Art in this city to meet
and work the same as heretofore." This letter was signed by Joseph F.
Rolfe, Alex. Johnson and Jno. Keary. No action was taken by Lodge No.
14, and there were no withdrawals from the members.

Three years later however, the old Warrant was "purloined" by
members of the Lodge who continued as members of No. 20 and who
applied to the Grand Lodge of Canada for recognition which they
obtained in March 1860, the landlord letting the new Lodge, calling
itself No. 209, use the Lodge room.

In August 1860 No. 209 was declared irregular by the Grand Lodge.
In November, the irregular lodge wrote No. 20 asking for the books of
the old Lodge, which request was denied.

In June 1861, Garrett, Irwin, Taylor and Perkins were suspended
by Lodge No. 20 for belonging to Lodge No. 209, and in February 1862
Grand Lodge issued an edict forbidding all regular Masons recognizing
No. 209. (Irish Reg.) "as the resolution passed at a former session of the
Grand Lodge as to their extinction under the original Warrant, working in
an irregular and unconstitutional manner, was confirmed at least meeting."

On December 9, 1862 however, the Grand Master, Thomas Douglas
Harington, pronounced No. 209 and St. Lawrence Lodge at Montreal,
regularly constituted, and ordered them to be recognized by all regular
Masons!

The next ten years was a period of strife between the two lodges
which may be summarized as follows:

1862: An appeal by the off-shoot lodge to the Grand Lodge of Ireland
"for protetction;" that Grand Lodge instruct Bro. Kivas TuUy, its Grand
Representative, to withdraw from the Grand Lodge of Canada. This he
did with the result that the Grand Master revoked all previous edicts,
1863: During 1863 four conferences were held seeking a solution of the
difficult problem.

1864: On April 27, 1864, the Warrant of the off-shoot Lodge was pur-
loined from the Masonic Hall, following which the Secretary was instructed
to apply to the Grand Lodge of Ireland for a duplicate, which was issued
on June 16, 1864.

During the period 1865 to 1871 comparative quiet prevailed, except
that in 1868 the Ark of St. John's R. A. Chapter, attached to the Irish
Lodge, was broken open and despoiled. Later the Lodge collars, jewels,
aprons, etc., were taken from the Hall, and some windows broken.

In 1872 application was made to the Grand Lodge of Canada by the
Irish Lodge for recognition; the duplicate Warrant was surrendered to

—890—

the Grand Lodge on July 24, 1872 and a new Warrant issued, No. 209A,
with the privilege of using the Irish Work; and so the situation has
remained until the present day.

The full story is told by Robertson in his History of Freemasonry
Vol. II, p. 591 - 617.

Historical Sketch of St. John's Lodge No. 20, G.R.C., 1841-1955 (M.D.
Dawson and Richard Booth).

St.-John's Royal Arch Chapter, 1843-58

On February 14, 1843, the brethren of St. John's Lodge No. 209,
applied to the Grand Chapter of Ireland for a Warrant to hold a Royal
Arch Chapter.

T'he Chapter was closely associated with the Lodge in all activities,
prospered as the Lodge prospered, and shared in the ownership of the
furniture. A Minute book written partly in pencil and partly in ink exists
for the period 1843 to 1848. The officers under the Irish System were
designated as First, Second and Third Principals, with three Sojourners,
two Scribes and a High Priest.

A curious situation arose in the Lodge on December 29, 1852, when
the Master of the Lodge ruled that all R.A. brethren were entitled to be
present at the installation of the new Master, stating that "a virtual Past-
master of the R.A. Chapter had the same rights and privileges as an actual
Pastmaster. W. Bro. A. S. Abbott, the Secretary and P.M. of the Lodge
dissented, and asked permission to retire with other members. The W.M.
appears to have had his own way and the installation was proceeded with.
I am informed that in Ireland a "virtual" P.M. was qualified until 1864
for the R.A. Degree but in 1851 only an actual P.M. was declared qualified
to be present at the installation of a Master of a Lodge.

On the formation of the Grand Chapter of Canada in 1858 St. John's
Chapter became No. 6 G.R. Can. with R. Ex. Comp. William Daniell
of St. John's Chapter named Grand Scribe N.

St. John's Lodge No. 159 (G.R.I.) Hawkesbury, C. W.

While this Lodge bore a senior number, it was not the earliest in
Canada, but it had a somewhat longer existence than any other Irish
Lodge in the Dominion, namely, 44 years.

The Lodge called St. John's No. 159 was Warranted March 15, 1844,
the first Master being William Robertson; Andrew McCready, S.W.; and
Patrick McKee. J.W. Meetings were held in Ouimet's Hotel at Hawkes-
bury, six miles from L'Orignal the county town of the United Counties of
Prescott and Russell, near Ottawa.

—891—

In 1859, the Lodge removed to Vankleek Hill, where it met with fair
regularity until July 1870 in the home of Hiram Johnston, and then in
R. W. Lendrum's house.

The active members of these early days were:

Thomas Mears, an early settler and Millar, both of

Hawkesbury Village; Samuel Curran of Hawkesbury West; Hiram
Johnston and Silas Grant, both of Vankleek Hill,

Angus Urquhart of Hawkesbury, Mills Robert Hamilton and Chaun-
cey Johnson, both of L'Orignal.

On the formation of the Grand Lodge of Canada in 1855, the Lodge,
while represented by three of its members at the Hamilton Convention
in that year, did not join the new Grand Lodge when formed in July
1856, and maintained an isolated position until 1888.

In July 1870 the Lodge removed to L'Orignal, and met temporarily
Jn the house of T. O. Steele, removing in November to new quarters
over T. F. McAvoy's store, where it continued to meet until a new lodge
room was erected on Court Street. In 1886 the Lodge removed again to
Vankleek Hill.

In 1872 the presence of this Irish Lodge at L'Orignal within the
jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Canada was brought to the attention
of the Grand Lodge at its annual meeting at Hamilton in that year, when
the D.D.G.M. (E. C. Barber) for the Ottawa District referred to the
Lodge as having "for years past acted in a most irregular manner . . . the
erring Lodge has been allowed to pursue its course." About this time the
Lodge adopted the name "St. John's" by which it has since been known.
No action was taken, and the rivalries of the Lodge and of two Canadian
lodges at Plantagenet and Hawkesbury became acute, and in 1873 the
D.D.G.M. issued an edict to the Lodges under his jurisdiction directing
them to refuse admission to brethren hailing from St. John's Lodge until
a settlement of the question was obtained from the Grand Lodge of
Ireland, which "had treated our most earnest remonstrances with cool
indifference." The Grand Master apparently revoked the order issued by
the D.D.G.M. as in excess of the latter's powers.

In 1873 Plantagenet Lodge No. 186 laid a complaint against St.
John's Lodge for "not acting in accordance with the rules governing
Masonic lodges in this country". That is, an invasion of its jurisdiction.

In the following year an agreement was negotiated for the merger
of St. John's Lodge at L'Orignal with Hawkesbury Lodge No. 210 at
Hawkesbury (then in a languishing condition), both to surrender their
Warrants and a new one to be issued by the Grand Lodge of Canada.
The Grand Lodge of Ireland however did not confirm this agreement, but
removed their Lodge to VanKleek Hill.

—892—

Nothing happened until 1887 when the D.D.G.M. (David Taylor)
of the Ottawa District re-opened negotiations, and on November 25th,
1887 St. John's Lodge No. 159 decided to apply for a Warrant from the
Grand Lodge of Canada, and to move from L'Orignal to VanKleek Hill.
The Grand Lodge approved of the petition and assigned the Lodge No.
21A to indicate a lodge dating from 1844 and on December 18, 1888 the
new Warrant was delivered to the Lodge. The old Warrant was returned
to the Grand Lodge of Ireland on August 8, 1890. This was the last of
the 26 Irish Lodges in Canada to leave the Mother Grand Lodge. In the
forty-four years of its history as an Irish Lodge 278 members were
registered in the books in Dublin.

St. John's Royal Arch Chapter No. 159 (L'Orignal)

From the first days of its history beginning in 1844, a Royal Arch
Chapter was attached to Lodge No. 159. It met wherever the Lodge met.

The sequence followed in conferring degrees did not always follow the
present day order, for on September 1st, 1856 the Mark degree was con-
ferred on a number of candidates, some of whom had already received the
Royal Arch degree that same evening.

The Irish Warrant was surrendered in 1888 and a new Warrant issued,
No. 148 G.R.C. by the Grand Chapter of Canada.

St. John's Knight Templar Encampment^ Hawkesbury, Ont.

In 1850 a Knight Templar Encampment was established under a
Warrant issued to Andrew McCready, William Hamilton and Robert
Hamilton, "to be attached to Lodge and Chapter No. 159".

King Solomon's Lodge No. 222 (G.R.I.)
Now No. 22, (G.R.C.O.) Toronto, Ont.

On February 3, 1847 a Warrant, No. 222, was issued by the Grand
Lodge of Ireland to John Trueman and Robert Moore, both of Lodge
No. 565 at Lambeg, Co. Antrim, and David Kopkins of Lodge No. 105,
Tanderagee, Co. Armagh, to hold a Lodge at Toronto.

At this time there were many Craftsmen from the North of Ireland
resident in that City, whose custom for some years it was to meet and
celebrate St. John's Day at the Tyrone Inn, Queen St. West. After being
refused a Warrant by the Provincial Grand Lodge of England for Canada
West, they applied to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, nominating John
Trueman, the Keeper of the Tyrone Inn, as their first Master; David
Hopkins as S.W., and Robert Moore as J.W. Their petition was recom-
mended by Lodge No. 105 at Tanderagee, to which several of the petition-
ers belonged, also by Lodges Nos. 79 at Tanderagee and No. 82 at
Portadown.

-893—

As Bro. Trueman was disqualified under the rules of the Grand

Lodge of Ireland by his occupation from holding the office of Master,

as long as the Lodge met in his house, he retired in favour of William
Cassidy, P.M. of Lodge No. 105.

The Lodge met at the Tyrone Inn from 1847 to 1849 and at the
beginning of its career adopted the name King Solomon's Lodge.

The Lodge early secured the affiliation of several very active Masons
whose influence on the progress of the Craft in Upper Canada proved to
be very notable.

Just at this time the movement for an independent Grand Lodge in
Upper Canada was gaining momentum, and had the support of many
lodges both of English and Irish origin. One of the leaders in this move
ment was King Solomon's Lodge, which in November 1853 adopted the
first resolutions calling for a convention. At that time there were ten
Irish Lodges in Canada West. All of them were duly invited to attend
a conference to be held at Hamilton on November 24, 1853, when the
decision was reached to organize an independent Grand Lodge for Canada
West.

Eventually tlie interest of the English and Scottish Lodges resulted
in the formation of the Grand Lodge of Canada on October 10, 1855, and
in January 1856, King Solomon's Lodge applied for a Warrant, which was
issued as No. 16. h'"ebruary 3rd, 1856. On the renumbering of the Lodges
ill 1858 the Lodge became No. 22. its present number on the Roll of the
Grand Lodge.

The Irish Warrant was returned on June 21, 1858 to the Grand Lodge.
In the eight years during which the Lodge worked under its Irish Warrant,
109 members were enrolled in the Irish register.

A full account of this important Lodge will be found in Robertson's
History of Freemasonry in Canada. Vol. II, p. 618.

LoiKiK No. 211 (G.R.I.) Port Stanley,

Now St. Mark's Lodge No. 94 (R.C.O.) Port Stanley

.•\t l^ort Stanley in the County of Elgin, nine miles South of the
City of St. Thomas, a Lodge, No. 211, was established in 1850 under a
Warrant dated October 31st, 1850, issued to William Dundas Hall, as
W.M.; David Thompson, S.W.; and Henry B. Bostwick, J.W. Of the
nine petitioners, five were from No. 209 at London, C.W.

The Lodge continued for only seven years, and on June 12, 1858
surrendered its Warrant and in July received a new Warrant from the
Grand Lodge of Canada as St, Mark's Lodge No. 53, now No. 94. During
the seven years of its existence only the original nine members were regis-
tered in the Grand Lodge books in Dublin.

—894—

St. John's Lodge No. 286, (G.R.I. Grand River
Now No. 35, G.R.C.O.) Cayuga

The next Irish Lodge to be organized in the Province of Canada
West was No. 286 at York, on the Grand River, Township of Seneca,
County of Haldmand, under a Warrant dated December 10, 1850. The
three principal officers named in this Warrant were William Young,
W.M.; Samuel Cormick, S.W, ; and William A. Spooner, J. W. The Lodge
adopted the name of St. John's Lodge.

In June 1854, the Lodge removed to Cayuga, where it has since
continued.

In 1855 the Lodge joined in the organization of the Grand Lodge of
Canada, and in December 1855 became No. 18. On the renumbering of the
Lodges it was assigned No. 35.

Between 1851 and September 1853 thirty-seven members were regist-
ered in the Grand Lodge books in Dublin. Its Irish Warrant was returned
to Dublin June 21, 1858.

A full account of the Lodge will be found in Robertson's History,
Vol II, p. 699.

King Hiram Lodge No. 226, (G.R.I.) Ingersoll, Oxford Co., Canada West
Now St. John's Lodge No. 68,

In the year 1792 William Jarvis, Provincial Secretary of the Province
of Upper Canada, was appointed Provincial Grand Master by Grand Lodge
of England (Ancients). Under this authority Jarvis in 1795 organized a
Grand Lodge at Newark (Niagara) then the seat of government. In 1797,
the administrative headquarters were removed to York (Toronto) while
the Masonic East continued at Newark with Robert Kerr, D.G.M. in
charge, who forwarded documents to York for signature by the Grand
Master. In 1803 a revolt took place, George Forsyth being elected G.M.
by the brethren at Newark. This forced Jarvis to summon a meeting of the
Provincial Grand Lodge at York, at which representatives of eight Lodges
reaffirmed their loyalty to Jarvis, and reported the situation to the Grand
Lodge in England,

Meanwhile the Newark brethren assumed the prerogatives of an
independent Grand Lodge and issued a number of Warrants, the first
being for a Lodge at Ingersoll, known as West Oxford, which met first
on April 12, 1803 as No. 21.

The original Warrant and Minutes from the above date are now in the
possession of King Hiram Lodge No. 76, G.R.C.O. The Lodge met
somewhat irregularly, and was apparently aware of doubts existing as to
the regularity of its Warrant.

Following several conventions held at Kingston, and the reorganiza-
tion of Freemasonry in the Province, King Hiram Lodge united with the
second Provincial Grand Lodge as No. 12, at York, Prov. Reg., receiving

—895—

an English Warrant, No. 765, dated September 23, 1822 (No. 498 in 1832),
The Lodge met only twice in the period 1830-35.

In 1835 the Lodge became dormant, and did not meet until 1852,
when, because of the dormancy of the Provincial Grand Lodge, the breth-
ren applied to the Grand Lodge of Ireland for a new Warrant, which was
dated August 30th, 1851.

The officers named in this new Warrant were David Curtis, W.M.;
who had been the leader in reviving the Lodge; John Galloway as S.W,;
and David Doty, J.W.

From its reorganization until March 1857 eighty-six brethren were
registered in the books of the Grand Lodge in Dublin.

In 1856 a new Lodge, known as St. John's Lodg€ No. 35, was formed
in Ingersoll under dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Canada. Shortly
afterwards King Hiram Lodge and St. John's Lodge agreed to merge. The
former does not seem to have returned its Wararant to Ireland, but all of its
members joined St. John's Lodge No. 35, now No. 68, G.R.C.O. thereby
consolidating the two lodges (Robertson, Vol. II, p. 381, 637).

St. John's Lodge No. 231 G.R.I.
Now No. 40, G.R.C.O., Hamilton

On July 2, 1852 a Warrant was issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland
to TTiomas Bird Harris, as W.M.; Alfred Booker, S.W.; and John W.
Kerr, J.W., for a Lodge to be held in Hamilton, Canada West. The
Lodge adopted the name of St. John's Lodge No. 231. Within a year
the movement for an independent Grand Lodge was set on foot, and St.
John's Lodge warmly supported the proposal, and promptly joined the new
Grand Lodge, its present number being 40.

In the period from 1852 to September 1856 fifty-two members were
registered in the books of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. The Warrant was
returned to Ireland in June 1858, endorsed "cancelled" and returned to
St. John's in July 1902. St. John's Lodge is now one of the largest and
most progressive lodges in the jurisdiction, (see Robertson, Vol. II p, 668).

St. John's Chapter

On January 5, 1857 a Warrant was delivered to Thomas Bird Harris,
from the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland, authorizing him and
John Rose Holden, John Baine, Thomas Duggan, Henry Langdon,
Thomas Lee, John Harris, Edward Marshall and John W. Kerr to hold
a Royal Arch Chapter in the City of Hamilton, to be known as St. John's
Chapter; and to be attached to St. John's Lodge No. 231.

On April 25, 1857, the Chapter appointed delegates to attend a
meeting of delegates for the purpose of forming a Grand Chapter of
Canada. This Grand Chapter was duly formed on the 2nd day of April
1857, and St. John's Chapter became No. 6, G.R.C.

—896—

""/m/c

'fi^CllHJUbfe

i^F

offnums.

u^rut/ .^y^^LH/lfi^ C^^ua/4l <^eyn,f^-, itcazJ^t^ Mn// a X/i^K'XC*/ o^j^ yir^c^i^t^xy/^^yU:^ n/^Jo^

i^^a

V?-_^<^<- wruf 'C'^ix^J^ ^S 1 3/ m^al^e^au/ . u^U^ nt^Atrufet i^Aei^rrrrt a/r..f^Ma O^^^ny -Omc/ acUfc*n^U^<>
y.-.y.-^ -^t^^**^^t*^ Ma^ n%<iy art<»e u^fu/ <^tyrPf**i^i^ »r c*vncc^Uny M^ieAt^'f^^tiy y^U^*' -r^l^ '^:6*H:

1 to ia>

Irish Knight Templar warrant for present
Godfrey de Bouillon, Prcceptory No. 3, Hamilton, Ont.

—897—

Godfrey De Bouillon Encampment
Now No. 2), Hamilton, Ont.

On October 18, 1855, the Supreme Grand Encampment of High
Knights Templars of Ireland issued a Warrant to Thomas Bird Harris,
James Daniell, Robert Hamilton and others, constituting them as an
Encampment attached to Lodge and Chapter No. 231 at Hamilton in the
County of Wentworth, Canada West. Under this Warrant the Fraters
were authorized to confer not only the degrees of Knight Templar and
Knight of Malta, but also those of "Knight of the East or Sword, and
Knight of the East and West commonly called Red Cross Masons." The
Fraters adopted the name Godfrey de Bouillon. In the absence of positive
evidence, there is considerable doubt whether the Encampment ever
functioned.

On June 15, 1859 the members surrendered their Warrant, and trans-
ferred to the Provincial Grand Encampment of Canada, and are now
No. 3 on the Roll of Sovereign Great Priory of Canada.

St. Thomas Lodge No. 232, (G.R.I.)
Now No. 44, G.R.C.O. St. Thomas

Another Lodge of Irish origin with a short career of activity before
affiliation with the Grand Lodge of Canada was St. TTiomas Lodge No.
232, of St. Thomas, County of Elgin, Canada West.

The Irish Warrant for this Lodge was dated Alarch 30, 1853, and was
issued to Henry Caldwell, W.M.; Elijah Eli Duncombe, S.W.; and Mur-
doch MacKenzie, J.W. The early records of the Lodge have not been
preserved.

The Lodge continued until October 1855, when it united with the
Grand Lodge of Canada as No. 21. The old Warrant was returned to
Ireland, and has endorsed across its face a declaration by W. Caldwell
and Thos. R. Warren, Past Masters, that the Lodge having received a
Warrant from the new Grand body, the Irish Warrant is looked upon as
"a dead letter."

On the renumbering of the Lodges the St. Thomas Lodge became
No. 44.

The names of only the first three principal officers appear in the
Dublin records, (see Robertson II p. 673).

Brant Lodge No. ZZZ, Brantford, Canada West
Now No. 45, G.R.C.O.

Of the four Lodges in Brantford, Ontario, the oldest — Brant No. 45,
is of Irish origin, having been organized in July 1853. T'he Warrant from
the Grand Lodge of Ireland was dated July 6, 1853, and was issued to A.
Worthington, W.M.; Charles H. Waterous, S.W.; and R. Henwood, J.W.
After three years of activity the Lodge joined the Grand Lodge of Canada,
becoming No. 22, now No. 45. The old Warrant was returned to Ireland
in June 1856. (Robertson II, p. 701).

—898—

St. David's Lodge No. 236 (G.R.I.) Nobleville,
Now Vaughan No. 54, (G.R.C.O.) Maple.

Still another Irish Lodge of short life was that warranted at Noble-
ville Township of Vaughan, York County, as No. 236, and dated May 8,
1854. This was issued to James Woods, W.M.; and John Noble, S.W.,
both of Lodge No. 798 (at Sion Bridge, Co. Tyrone) and James Dick, J.W.
of Lodge No. 790 (at Clones). Other petitioners were William F. Ward,
Thomas Gordon and James Gordon.

According to Robertson the petitioners surmised that the Provincial
Grand Lodge would be unwilling to grant them a Warrant owing to the
nearness of another Lodge at Richmond Hill, 3% miles East of Nobleville,
and they therefore sought a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of Ireland.
Their petition was dated March 23, 1854, and suggested the name St.
David's, but at the first meeting they decided to call it Vaughan Lodge.

Present at the first meeting, September 21, 1854, was Bro. Kivas
Tully, Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and other
members of King Solomil^^n's Lodge, Toronto.

TTie Lodge was represent^ at the Convention held October 10, 1855,
called to organize the Grand Lodge of Canada, following which the
Lodge agreed to surrender its Irish Warrant and apply for a Warrant
from the new Grand Lodge, which was numbered 27.

In the period September 1854 to February 1856, 23 members were
registered in the Grand Lodge books in Dublin. The Warrant was
returned to Dublin on December 9, 1856.

The Lodge is now known as Vaughan Lodge No. 54, G.R.C.O., at
Maple, Ontario, (see also Robertson II, p. 674).

Wellington Lodge No. 238 (G.R.I.)
DuNNViLLE, Canada West

Almost the last Irish Lodge to be warranted in Canada West, No.
238, at Dunnville, Haldimand Co., dated July 17, 1854 — issued to Samuel
Cornick, W.M.; Jacob Osman, S.W.; and Elwin Woodbury, J.W.

Dunnville is not far from Cayuga, the location of Lodge No. 286, al-
ready mentioned, and the Lodge there undoubtedly prompted several
of its members to seek an Irish warrant in' 1854. The Lodge was called
Wellington Lodge No. 238, and the first meeting was held October 22nd,
1854, when the Irish Warrant was read, the Lodge constituted and the
officers installed, David Mcindoe becoming J.W. in place of Edwin
Woodbury named in the Warrant. Only 14 members were registered
in the Grand Lodge books in Dublin.

—899—

The Lodge was represented at the Hamilton Convention on October
10, 1855 and decided on October 19, to unite with the newly-formed
Grand Lodge of Canada, and forthwith surrendered its Warrant and
received a new one, No. 24; later No. 52 in 1859.

In 1866 we find it merged with Amity No. 32, Dunnville, formed in
that town in 1850 as the result of negotiations begun about 1858. Three
of its charter members became W.M.'s of Amity Lodge before 1870.

Harmony Lodge No. 358, (G.R.L) Binbrook, Canada West,
Now No. 57, G.R.C.O.

The second last Irish Lodge chartered in Canada West was Lodge
No. 358 at Binbrook, a short distance from Hamilton in Wentworth Co.
In January 1855, the Grand Lodge of Ireland issued a warrant to Jeremiah
Taylor of Lodge No. 286 (Irish) as W.M.; John Brown who belonged
to a Lodge in Scotland, S.W.; and Henry Morgan. J.W. These are the
only members registered in the books in Dublin. Morgan was a lighthouse
keeper at Port Dover. The Lodge met at Jeremiah Taylor's house in a
room especially built and fitted up for lodge purposes.

It was inevitable that the Lodge would become an integral part of
the newly formed Grand Lodge of Canada, and in January 1856 it sur-
rendered its Irish Warrant and accepted a new Warrant from the Grand
Lodge of Canada as No. 27, now No. 57.

Wellington Lodge No. 359 (G.R.I.) Stratford, Canada West

The last Irish Lodge to be chartered in Canada West was Lodge
No. 359, under a Warrant dated March 10, 1855, issued to Riverius Hooker
Lee (of Lodge No. 14, E.C.) as W.M.; Edmund Woodbury, S.W., and
Alexander Barrington Orr of Lodge No. 226 at Ingersoll. The first
meeting was held December 29, 1854.

The early records of the Lodge are somewhat fragmentary. The Lodge
joined the Grand Lodge of Canada as Wellington Lodge No. 28 on its
register (see also Robertson II, p. 703).

CANADA EAST

At the time of the formation of the Grand Lodge of Canada in 1855,
the territory of Canada embraced Quebec, first known as Lower Canada
and later as Canada East. In this territory there were two Irish Lodges,
viz. :

Lodge No. 227, at Montreal, which became No. 1 on the roll of the
new Grand Lodge of Canada and

Lodge No. 237, at Quebec, which joined the Grand Lodge of Canada
as No. 49 in November 1859.

—900—

The Lodge of Social & Military Virtues No. 227, (G.R.I.)
Now The Lodge of Antiquity No. 1, G.R.O., Montreal, Que.

As considerable confusion exists in the minds of some Masonic
historians as to the age and origin of the present-day Lodge of Antiquity-
No. 1, Montreal, it will be of interest to outline the history of Lodge No.
227, in the 46th Regiment of Foot of the British Army. This renowned
regiment has served all over the world, including the American Revolution.

The first Warrant for a Masonic Lodge in its ranks was issued by the
Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1752, No. 227, the Lodge afterwards adopting
the name of The Lodge of Social and Military Virtues. Following a
sojourn in Australia- about 1820, when it introduced Freemasonry in that
continent, it was stationed in India, where the Lodge lost most of its
members through cholera (1826-27) and became dormant.

In 1834 a new Warrant was issued to the brethren in the Regiment,
under which it worked for a year on its return to England. The Lodge
again became extinct, and was struck off the Irish Register.

In 1840 the Regiment was stationed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but
the Lodge was still inactive, and several of its officers joined Royal
Standard Lodge (Eng. Const.), notably Major F. A. TTiesiger, later
Baron Chelmsford of Zulu war fame, and Captain Childs.

In 1846 the 46th was in Montreal. R. W. Bro. J. Beamish Saul, P.M.
and Historian of The Lodge of Antiquity No. 1, Montreal, writing in
1912, said that about 1846 "several brethren on active service with the
military establishment here (Montreal) or retired therefrom (principal
among whom was Sergeant Major Wm. Shepherd of the Royal Artillery)
and who were about to form a military Lodge, hearing of the Warrant
and regalia of the dormant Lodge of the 46th (Regiment) in keeping
of Bro. Capt. Childs, and becoming desirous if possible of starting
under the aegis of such an historical charter, applied to him for a transfer
of the Warrant and regalia, in order that they might continue the work
as a permanent semi-military or garrison Lodge in Montreal."

Captain Childs, the sole survivor of the old Lodge, agreed to part
with the old Warrant dated August 2, 1834 and the jewels and regalia, but
not the Bible, square and compasses. The Bible is still in possession of
the Regiment.

Brother Shepherd and his associates also agreed to apply to the
Grand Lodge of Ireland for a renewal of the old Warrant, but were
informed that the old Lodge in the 46th Regiment of Foot was in arrears
for dues for thirteen years, and had actually been dissolved when in
Halifax in 1845. The Grand Lodge however agreed to issue a new Warrant,
fee £7, with the old number (then vacant) and the name selected by
the petitioners (Robertson, Vol. II, p. 661) and on July 2nd, 1847 a
Warrant was issued to William Shepherd, W.M.; William Robinson, S.W. ;
and Robert Balfour, J.W.; all of Lodge No. 729 (Eng. Cost.) in the 80th
Regiment of Foot to which all but one of the petitioners belonged. None
of the former members of Lodge No. 227 joined in the petition or became
members of the new Lodge.

—901—

The Lodge was constituted in March 1848, and its officers installed.
The name assumed by the new Lodge was "The Lodge of Social and
Military Virtues" (that of the extinct Lodge). In 1855 it joined the Grand
Lodge of the Province of Canada as No. 1, and its name was changed
in 1857 to the Lodge of Antiquity. From July 2nd, 1847 to April 1855,
sixty-four members were registered in the Irish books.

In 1855 the Lodge joined the Grand Lodge of Canada, and because it
possessed the name and number of the old Lodge in the 46th Regiment
it was assigned No. 1. The old Warrant of 1847 was returned to Dublin on
December 8th, 1858.

In 1869 the Lodge joined the newly-formed Grand Lodge of Quebec
as No. 1 on that registry, (see also Robertson II, p. 640.)

Independent Lodge No. 237, Quebec, Canada East

The only other Lodge in Quebec Province of Irish origin was
Inde pendent Lodge No. 237, warranted on June 9, 1854, when a Warrant
was issued by the Grand Lodge of Ireland empowering William Eadon,
William Blanchard Vallian and Samuel Johnston Dawson, all of Albion
No. 17 (Eng. Const.) to form a Lodge at Quebec, Canada East, designated
No. 237 (Irish Constitution).

It seems to have worked the English ritual.

At the initial Convention of Lodges of the Province of Canada held
at Hamilton, Canada West on October 10, 1855, Independent Lodge,
Quebec, was represented but did not affiliate with the new body until
November 1859 (Graham, p. 198, 204) becoming Harington No. 49 on the
Roll of the new Grand Lodge of Canada. In this period (1854 to
November 1859) seventy-seven members of the Lodge were registered
in the Grand Lodge books in Dublin. (See Robertson, II, p. 681).

In 1869 it joined the newly organized Grand Lodge of Quebec as
No. 9, later No. 8, continuing until 1871. It was renumbered 17 in 1876.
In 1880 the Lodge along with St. Andrews Lodge, amalgamated with
Albion No. 2, Quebec, which thus became a Lodge uniting three streams,
English, Irish and Scottish. (See Graham, P. 211)

NEW BRUNSWICK

Independently of the Irish Lodges in the Province of Canada, there
were eight Irish lodges formed in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in
the period 1830 to 1859, all with interesting histories. During this period
the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia exercised jurisdiction over both Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick.

In the eight mentioned above, we include a Lodge — No. 977 — which
had a most unusual and irregular history. It actually begins in 1820, a year
before the issue of the Warrant of Leinster Lodge No. 283, Kingston,
Canada West, in February 1st, 1821.

—902—

Lodge No. 977 (G.R.I.)
Portland, New Brunswick.

In March 1820 Levi Lockhart of St. John Lodge No. 29, R.N.S.
(now No. 2, G.R.N.B.) advised the Grand Lodge at Halifax that a Lodge
was holding meetings at Portland, N.B. claiming to hold a warrant (No.
977) from the Grand Lodge of Ireland with Samuel Campbell as Master.
As the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia had no knowledge of this Lodge
within its jurisdiction Thos. Wetmore, D.G.M. for New Brunswick, was
requested to investigate.

Both St. John Lodge No. 29 and Union Lodge No. 38 appointed com-
mittees to act in conjunction with each other and Bro. Wetmore.

The joint committee attended one of the meetings of the Lodge and
later made its report to Grand Lodge. From this report it appears that the
Warrant for Lodge No. 977 was originally granted by the Grand Lodge
of Ireland (the Earl of Donoughmore, G.M.) to Holliday King, Samuel
Campbell and Charles Campbell, for a Lodge to be held in the Town Land
of Carnkenny, Newton Stewart, County Tyrone, Ireland, December 5th,
1805. On the removal of the greater part of the members of this Lodge
from Ireland to Portland, New Brunswick, they brought along their
Warrant, under which they believed they were authorized to continue
their work in any part of His Majesty's Dominions.

In 1820 the officers were Samuel Campbell, W.M.; Charles Campbell,
S.W. ; and Robert Forsyth, J.W. Since their arrival in Portland they had
entered, passed and raised three members, Corporal Andrew Gibson of the
74th Regiment, and Thomas Powers and John Walker, civilians. On July
7th Andrew Gibson was accepted by St. John's Lodge and "healed over."

These facts and a copy of the Warrant were forwarded to the Grand
Lodge of Ireland, who informed the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia that the
Warrant had been illegally and clandestinely taken away from Carnkenny
by the late Master, Samuel Kenny, and without the leave or sanction
of the Grand Lodge of Ireland. That Grand Lodge thereupon declared
the Warrant null and void and excluded Campbell from all Masonic rights
and privileges.

On this information being communicated to Bro. Wetmore and the
Lodges in St. John these brethren took the rather unusual course of inviting
or summoning Campbell and his Wardens and Secretary William Brown
to a meeting of St. John Lodge No. 29 on November 7th, 1820. On being
admitted, the correspondence with the Grand Secretary of Ireland was read
to them and copies furnished to them! Then they withdrew.

This however was not the end of matters. Union Lodge No. 38 wished
to make sure of the actual suppression of the irregular Lodge. A com-
mittee representing the Lodge called on Campbell and requested him to
give up the Warrant. TTiis request was at first refused, but some days
later Campbell agreed to mutilate the Warrant by cutting off the signature

—903—

"A. Seton" at the foot. When he had done this "the committee at iiis re-
quest and in his presence severed the instrument in two, and, taking care to
preserve uninjured all names and dates, they cut from the centre of it a
part which they entirely destroyed." I nthis condition it was forwarded
to the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.

The attitude of Campbell and his friends gained the sympathy of the
committee, and they recommended them to the Grand Lodge for re-
instatement. Their opinion was that the Master had been "rather heedless
than deliberately evil." It appeared that when they left home their Lodge
was very small, being with but few exceptions composed only of them-
selves, and it had been agreed by all that with the consent of the Grand
Lodge of Ireland they should take their Warrant with them. Campbell
had written the Grand Lodge, but before he had received a reply the
vessel in which he and his friends had made arrangements to embark
sailed for New Brunswick. In this emergency the members of the Lodge
had persuaded him "to take the warrant with him in the sanguine hope
and expectation that the answer of the Grand Lodge would be favorable."
Campbell, it had been ascertained, had been a Alascn in good repute in
Ireland both for morals and skill in the Craft, for more than thirty years,
and he and his associttes had always deported themselves soberly and
honestly, and during their residence in Portland had maintained irreproach-
able characters.

On the report of their Committee, Union Lodge recommended the
restoration of Campbell and his associates, and on receipt of this request
the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia in June 1821 recommended the Grand
Lodge of Ireland to remove the expulsion. No reply however, seems to
have been received. After waiting nearly three years, Samuel and Charles
Campbell affiliated with St. John Lodge No. 29 on July 6, 1824.

In October 1826 Samuel Campbell himself petitioned the Grand
Lodge setting forth the circumstances under which he and his associates
had removed the Warrant from Ireland. He expressed his sincere repent-
ance, and asked to be restored again to the privileges of the Craft. Benj.
L. Peter's recommendation as D.D.G.M. was attached. The Grand
Lodge of Nova Scotia thereupon formally removed the expulsion of
Samuel Campbell, thus closing this chapter in the history of Masonry in
New Brunswick.

Hibernian Lodge No. 318 (G.R.I.)
St. Andrew's, New Brunswick

The first Lodge in New Brunswick warranted by the Grand Lodge
of Ireland was established by brethren in St. Andrew's, N.B., under a
Warrant issued March 10th, 1830, which named Samuel Barclay as
Master, and William Finlay and Samuel Brown as Wardens. It was
numbered 318 on the Irish registry. The document was signed by the
Duke of Leinster, Grand Master, and John Fowler as Deputy Grand
Secretary.

—904—

Previously to the formation of this Lodge in St. Andrew's there had
been in that town a Lodge known as Eastern Star Lodge No. 37, estab-
lished in 1814, with Ebenezer Bugbee as W.M.; Aaron Robinson, S.W.;
and Amos Ordway, J.W., under a Warrant issued by the Grand Lodge
of Nova Scotia. In June 1829 the hall erected by the Lodge was destroyed
by fire, and the records and furniture of the Lodge and Chapter attached
to it were lost in the fire. Meetings of both bodies continued until October
1833, after which date Hibernian Lodge continued to work until 1859.

Between 1830 and November 1859 sixty-nine members were registered
in the books of the Grand Lodge in Dublin, the last initiated being
Benjamin Bradford; the last election being on December 1861 when
William Doak was ekcted Master and William Milligan, Secretary.

The mainstay of this Lodge for many years was W. Bro. Adam W.
Smith, who at the conclusion of the Lodge's labours paid all dues to the
Grand Lodge and transmitted the Warrant to Dublin in 1863 "feeling con-
vinced that any further prolongation of its life was impracticable." The
reasons given for the surrender of the warrant were the great reduction
in the membership, which had dwindled to three, including Bro. Smith,
and the impossibility of holding meetings or continuing the work. War-
rant presented to Grand Lodge of New Brunswick, October 6, 1882.

Hibernian Chapter, St. Andrezv's

Closely associated with Hibernian Lodge was Hibernian R.A. Chapter,
chartered in March 3, 1834 by the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland.
The founders of this Chapter were James Kyle, Isaac Kennedy, John
Commac, Matthew Burnside, James Fleming, William Milligan, James
Finlay, Matthew Murray and Andrew Gilliland.

Regular convocations were held on the 2nd Wednesday of January,
April, July and October.

The leading factor in the success of the Chapter was Adam Smith
who was named as First Principal. To him in 1838 the Companions of the
Chapter presented a beautiful silver tankard "as a slight testimonial of their
appreciation of his service as First Principal."

Owing to the decline in its membership through deaths and removals
elsewhere, the Chapter ceased working on December 20, 1862.

Hibernian Encampment

Associated with the Lodge and the Chapter was Hibernian Encamp-
ment No. 318. Knights Templar, also at St. Andrew's, constituted on
April 5, 1840, being the first such body organized in that Province.

The warrant was granted by the "Supreme Grand Encampment of
Ireland Knights Templar and Knights of Malta to Fratres James Kyle,
John McCoubry, John Comae, James Tufts, James Clark, James Brown,
Alexander Cochran, John Kerr, James McFarlane and William Gray.

—905—

Regular assemblies were held on the second Monday in March, June,
September and December. The last meetings were held in 1860 when the
warrant for the Chapter and Encampment was returned to Ireland.

The records of the Encampment are scant. The last surviving member
was Prater A. W. Smith, who was the second entrant when the Encamp-
ment was formed. During the twenty years of its existence "its work was
performed in a truly Knightly manner."

HiBERNiA Lodge No. 301 (G.R.I.)

Now HiBERNiA Lodge No. 3, Saint John.

The present day Hibernia Lodge No. 3 on the Registry of the Grand
Lodge of New Brunswick, began its existence under the Grand Lodge
of Ireland in the year 1837.

On April 10th of that year a Warrant No. 301 was granted by the
Grand Lodge of Ireland, signed by M. W. Bro. Augustus Frederic, Duke
of Leinster, constituting Jam^s Hinds, John Murray and Angus McAfee
appointed Master and Wardens, such Lodge to be holden in the city of
Saint John, in New Brunswick.

The other Lodges in Saint John at that time were St. John's Lodge
No. 29 under the Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia which transferred
in that year to the Registry of England as No. 632; Albion Lodge No. 52,
constituted in 1825, which in 1829 also transferred to the Registry of
England as No. 570, and Portland LTnion No. 324, also in on the Registry of
Ireland, which however ceased work in 1846.

James Hinds was a member of Lodge No. ?)Z7 of Bushmills, Co.
Antrim, and John Murray and Angus McAfee had belonged to Lodge
No. 235 in Coleraine, Co. Londonderry.

Prom the records of the Grand Lodge of Ireland we learn that 352
members were registered in the books of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in the
next thirty years, ending November 12, 1867. During this period the
best of happy relations existed between Hibernia Lodge and its local
neighbours.

On May 5, 1846, a deputation consisting of John McLarty, Peter
Stubbs and William H. Needham waited upon St. John's Lodge "for the
purpose of soliciting their cooperation in the formation of a Lodge of
instruction, whereupon it was ordered that the Lodge unite with Hibernia
Lodge in the organization of such lodge of instruction."

Again in February 1847 the three Lodges joined "in getting up a
general Masonic ball to raise a fund to assist in relieving the poor of
Ireland and Scotland."

-906-

When on June 24, 1847 the cornerstone of the Provincial Lunatic
Asylum on the West side of the River St. John, near the Falls, v^^as laid
with Masonic ceremonies by R. W. Bro. the Hon. Alexander Keith,
Provincial Grand Master, from Halifax, N.S., Hibernia Lodge had a place
in the procession.

On March 14, 1854 Hibernia Lodge received a fraternal visit from
St. John's Lodge, which they "returned" on April 4th, the next regular
meeting of St. John's Lodge.

During February and March 1856, the four Lodges in the City inter-
visited one another, and so promoted a true Masonic spirit, and cemented a
stronger bond of union, which produced increased interest and activity
and renewed zeal. Again on September 2, Hibernia Lodge visited St. John's
Lodge.

September 24, 1856 was a great day in Masonic history in St. John,
when large deputations from the lodges of the Province under English
authority assembled at 9.00 a.m. in the new hall in Ritchie's building,
to assist in consecrating the Deputy Provincial Grand Lodge of New
Brunswick, and the dedication of the Hall for Masonic purposes. Hibernia
Lodge as an invited guest was well represented, and at the conclusion
of the ceremonies formed in order of procession and marched to Trinity
Church for Divine service.

In the evening a grand banquet was held, followed by a Ball under
the banners of all the City lodges. The Lieutenant Governor, the Hon.
H. T. Manners-Sutton, honored the brethren with his presence, and was
received under an arch of steel.

Hibernia Lodge was represented on this occasion by James McNichoI
Sr., W.M.; Abraham Magee, S.W.; and Alphonzo G. Troop, J.W.

On the formation of the present Grand Lodge of New Brunswick in
1867, Hibernia Lodge surrendered its Warrant to the Grand Lodge of
Ireland, November 12, 1867, and in due course received a new Warrant
dated April 30, 1858 from the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick under
which it has since continued its work as No. 3 on that roll.

In 1937 Hibernia Lodge celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Warrant,
jewels, banners, records and all other property of the Lodge were de-
stroyed by the Great Fire of June 20th, 1877, which nearly destroyed the
City of Saint John.

Hibernia R. A. Chapter

This Chapter was associated with Hibernia Lodge No. 301 and was
constituted June 5. 1858 under a Warrant dated February 24 of that year,
from the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Ireland. The first officers were
John Willis, James AlcNichol, Sr. and Abraham Magee, as Principals, the
others being George Wilson, Angus McAfee, John Creighton, James
Bennett, John Frost and Thomas L. Keynes.

—907—

In 1864 the companions by resolution adopted the name "New Bruns-
wick Chapter". Under this name and No. 301 it worked until 1868 when
it surrendered its Irish Warrant and joined the Grand Cliapter of
Canada. This change of allegiance was due to the fact that under Irish
Masonic law a Chapter must be attached to an Irish Lodge. As Hibernia
Lodge had surrendered its Warrant, and the Chapter could no longer
stand alone and unattached, it did the next best thing and joined the only
other Grand Chapter in Canada at that time, the Grand Chapter of
"Canada."

The new Warrant was dated June 22, 1868, and was signed by T.
Douglas Harington, Grand Z.; D. Curtis. Grand H.; James Seymour,
Grand J. and Thomas B. Harris, Grand Scribe E. It was addressed to
John Willis, James McNichol, Sr., Edward Willis, John Frost. William
W. Elmslie, George James Chubb, Robert Marshall, John D. Short,
David R. Munro, John Mullin, George H. Whiting. Robert Shives and
James McNichol Jr. The New Brunswick Chapter was No. 10 on the
G.R. of Canada and was authorized to confer the degree of Mark Master.
Past Master, Most Excellent Master and the Holy Royal Arch.

By the fire of June 20, 1877, the Chapter lost all its records and
property. A duplicate of the Warrant was issued by the Grand Chapter of
Canada November 15, 1880.

On th€ formation of the Grand Chapter of New Brunswick in 1887
New Brunswick Chapter united with it, and was assigned No. 3 on the
roll of that Grand Chapter.

Portland Union Lodge No. 324 (G.R.I.)

Union Lodge of Portland No. 10, St. John, N.B.

The third Lodge of Irish origin in New Brunswick was constituted
under a warrant dated May 14, 1843, issued by the Grand Lodge (the
Duke of Leinster, G.M.) to Joseph Lingley, W.M.; William Purdy, S.W.;
and John McCready, J.W., to meet in the parish of Portland, Saint John,
N.B.

Meetings were held on the first Thursday of every month at John
McCready's house. All the brethren named in the Warrant were previously
members of St. John's Lodge No. 29 G.R.N.S. of Saint John; Joseph
Lingley joined St. John's Lodge on October 5, 1824; William Purdy was
initiated on June 5, 1838, and John McCready affiliated on June 1st, 1824,
from what lodge cannot now be determined.

The first officers included George H. Robinson as Treasurer; Henry
Duffell, Secretary; William Duffell, S.D.; George Cook, J.D.

All went well until the Lodge quarrelled with Lodge No. 301, (Irish
Const.) over a charge made by Lodge No. 324 that Lodge 301 had
initiated more than five candidates at one meeting, and that in the
absence of the Master the degree had been conferred by the S.W. Grand
Lodge ruled that the first charge was not contrary to Masonic law. As to
the second charge, it ruled that it was an old custom in Ireland that the

—908—

Master and Wardens of a lodge should be R.A. Masons, and that to be
an R.A. Mason he had to "Pass the Chair." This law had been altered
in 1839, but not withstanding the changed law the old custom persisted,
and as the two Wardens were R.A. Masons, the Lodge No. 301 had not
transgressed the law.

In the records of the Grand Lodge is the record of a protest against
the above ruling by John McCready, P.M. and Joseph Lingley, W.M.
As the protest was couched "in highly disrepectful terms," both brethren
were suspended during the pleasure of Grand Lodge.

On January 22, 1846 they wrote that they are "duly authorized to state
that the Warrant of Union Lodge will ere long be sent back to the
place from whence it came."

Bros. McCready and Lingley then applied to the Grand Lodge of
England but at this juncture Lodge No. 324, having learned of their sus-
pension, passed a resolution praying for their restoration, inasmuch as
"the affairs of Lodge No. 324 will soon become in a very deranged state
if they are deprived of the advice and experience of their late Brethren
McCready and Lingley."

The two brethren wrote withdrawing their offensive remarks, and
humbly requesting their restoration, a request to which Grand Lodge
agreed.

In the meantime, the Grand Lodge of England had issued a new
Warrant No. 780 dated November 3, 1846, and Lodge No. 324 had
unanimously decided to surrender its Irish Warrant. TTiis was entrusted
to a Captain Driskell bound for Scotland and for some reason did not
reach Ireland.

The list accompanying its return contained a list of twenty-eight
admissions to membership, the last as of October 1st, 1846. No reason
for the surrender of the Warrant was given.

As all the petitioners for the English Warrant with two exceptions
were members of Lodge No. 324 it is clear that the English Lodge No.
780 was the continuance of the Irish Lodge No. 324, (later No. 524), and
that the present Union Lodge of Portland No. 10 (G.R.N.B.) is entitled to
date its origin back to May 14, 1842. It may be added that W. F. Bunting
in his History of Freemasonry in New Brunswick was of the contrary
opinion (p. 316, 325).

Portland Union, R. A. Chapter No. 324

Although not mentioned in Bunting's work on New Brunswick Mason-
ry, Leinster Lodge had associated with it an R.A. Chapter No. 324, war-
ranted September 30, 1844. The Grantees names in the Warrant were
Joseph Lingley, John McCready, Angus McAfee, John Edwards, James
Gordon, James Adrian, George Kirsop and Bernard Mullen. No other
names were registered with the Grand Chapter in Ireland, and the
Chapter did no work, for in 1846 the Warrant was returned to the
Grand Chapter. The record reads "Warrant returned."

—909—

Sussex Lodge No. 327,

St. Stephen, New Brunswick

Sussex Lodge No. 327 at St. Stephen, N.B., was originally constituted
April 29, 1846 under a Warrant dated March 17, 1846 from the Grand
Lodge of Ireland, signed by the Duke of Leinster, G.M. The ceremony
of constitution was conducted by James Kyle of Hibernian Lodge No. 318.

The Warrant was addressed to Dugald Blair, M.D., as W.M.; Thomas
W. Rodgers, S.W.; and James Frink, J.W. The Lodge met at St. Stephen
on the first Wednesday of every month for the next fifteen years, changing
to Milltown, N.B. in July 1861. After a sojourn there for three years and
five months it returned to its old quarters in St. Stephen in December
1864.

Between 1846 and October 1867, 188 members were registered on the
books of the Grand Lodge of Ireland.

In 1867 delegates from the Lodge united with other Lodges in the
formation of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick, and on October 30,
1867 surrendered its Warrant to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and became
No. 7 on the new registry, on which it has since continued.

Sussex R. A. Chapter No. 327

On June 13, 1851 Sussex Royal Arch Chapter No. 327 was constituted
at St. Stephen, under a Warrant issued by the Grand Royal Arch Chapter
of Ireland, dated July 1, 1849. This Warrant was addressed to Companions
Dugald Blair, M.D., Thomas W. Rogers, Archibald Thompson and others.

The Chapter continued to work until March 15, 1864, when the War-
rant was surrendered and returned to the Grand Chapter of Ireland.

A few years later the R.A. Companions in St. Stephen petitioned the
Supreme Grand Chapter of Scotland, and were granted a Warrant for
Saint Stephen R.A. Chapter No. 125, dated at Edinburgh October 19, 1868
which Chapter is now No. 5 on the roll of the Grand Chapter of New
Brunswick.

Leinster Lodge No. 347, (G.R.I.)
Carleton, New Brunswick

The Warrant of Leinster Lodge No. 347 was granted October 7, 1859,
by the Grand Lodge of Ireland, the Duke of Leinster being Grand
Master. It was issued to John Willis, Edward Willis and Charles Ramsay,
(all of Lodge No. 301) appointing them Master and Wardens of Lodge
No. 347, to meet at Carleton, Saint John, N.B. on the first Monday in
every month. The Lodge was constituted on November 14, 1859 at the
house of William Browne, by W. Bro. Robert Stubs, W.M. of Hibernia
Lodge No. 301.

-910—

The Lodge continued to meet in Carleton until December 1862, when
it removed to Judge Ritchie's building in Saint John.

In the period 1859 to June 1867, sixty-eight members were registered
in the books of the Grand Lodge in Dublin.

On the formation of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick in 1868 the
Lodge surrendered its Warrant to the Grand Lodge of Ireland, and
received a new warrant dated May 19, 1868, constituting "Leinster Lodge
No. 19 on the roll of the new Grand Lodge. At this time Alfred Augustus
Stockton was W.M.; Silas Alward, S.W.; and Asaph G. Blaksbe, J.W.

In the great fire of June 20, 1877, Leinster Lodge shared the fate

of all other Masonic' bodies and lost its Warrant, jewels, banners and all

other property except its record books. A duplicate of the Warrant was
issued in July 1877.

On June 29, 1881, Leinster Lodge surrendered its warrant and ceased
work, due to a loss in membership, a lack of zeal on the part of its
members and the consequent inability to meet its expenses.

NOVA SCOTIA

McGowAN Lodge No. 330
Amherst, Nova Scotia

The first Lodge formed in Amherst, Nova Scotia, was probably Con-
cord Lodge at Fort Cumberland, of which there are very meagre records.

It was followed by Cumberland Harmony No. 51, (1822-43) on the
roll of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia. In 1829 it was issued
a new Warrant by the Grand Lodge of England No. 840. No. 569 in 1832.

In 1843 we find another Lodge known as McGowan Lodge No. 330
on the Irish Registry, named after Robert McGowan Dickey, one of its
charter members and active in its organization. The Warrant was dated
June 10, 1845, issued to George Moffat, Amos Thomas Seaman and Ben-
jamin Wilson. They and James King, Cornelius R. Smith and Alexander
Dewar were the founders of the Lodge. TTie total number of members
registered in the books in Dublin between 1845 and 1858 was twenty-eight.
Following a fire in 1858, the Lodge did not meet until 1865.

In the Archives of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, we find a letter
from Robert Stubs to the Hon. Alexander Keith, Halifax, dated March
5, 1864, reading as follows:

"Amherst, N.S., March 5 A.D. 1864.
R. W. Sir and Bro.

You may have probably forgotten the writer of this. I was made a
Mason in Lodge No. 330 I.R. at Amherst. Afterwards joined Albion 570
St. John E.R. was promoted to the office of Provincial Grand Secretary
under the R.W. Alex. Balloch's Esq. and served as such for some time.

—911—

For 4 years I have resided in Amherst, and am desirous of starting a Lodge
under Scottish authority. I have the names of eleven M.M.'s most of them
members of my late Grand Father's (Lodge) Cumberland. McGowan 330
LR. willing to sustain me in the good work of operating a (Lodge). There
is no Lodge in existence here at present. The books, jewels, etc. of 330,
R.L have been surreptitiously obtained by one Jas. King and appropriated
to his own use,

I have passed the Chair in (Lodge) 301, LR. rec'd the R.A. degree
etc. Therefore I hope you can trust me to start a Lodge here.

Can a dispensation to work a year be obtained from you as Prov.
Grand Master under Scotland? If so what will it cost? Please request
the Grand Secty to reply.

I have taken the liberty to write to you direct as I do not know
the name of the present P.G.S. for Scotland in N.S.

I have the honour to remain,

Your obedient servant & Bro.

RoDERT Stubs,
Past Prov. Gd. Secty, N.B.. E.R. & Pastmaster of

Lodge 301 R.L
To Hon. Alex. K^ith Esq., M.L.C.,
R. W. Prov. Gd. Master of Nova Scotia R.S. Halifax, N.S."

This letter is quoted because of its reference to McGowan Lodge,
which Stubs seems to have joined in reviving and which in 1866 joined
the newly organized Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia formed by the Scottish as
No. 14. In 1867 it adopted the name Acacia and in 1869 its number was
changed to its present No. 8. The Irish Warrant was returned to Dublin
on May 2, 1867.

Shamrock Lodge No. 331, Later

Indus Lodge No. 331, Halifax (1853-60)

On April 15, 1853, the Grand Lodge of Ireland issued a Warrant to
John Willis, George Gordon and Murtagh Callaghan to form and organize
at Halifax a Lodge to be known as Lodge No. 331. Bro. Willis described
himself as a member of Lodge 322 (that is. Thistle Lodge Scottish
Registry) and 245, (probably a mistake for Acacia No. 345 Halifax Scot-
tish Registry) of both of which he had been a member. The new lodge
adopted the name "Shamrock" Lodge."

The Warrant for the Lodge had previously been issued in 1759 to a
Lodge at Headford, County Galway, and reissued to brethren at Bally-
magone near Portadown in 1823. This Warrant was returned in 1846,
leaving the number again vacant until 1853 when the Warrant for Sham-
rock Lodge was issued.

—912—

The officers of the Lodge in 1854 were John Willis, Master; James
Grant, S.D.; George Gordon, S.W. ; Dennis Rinn, J.D.; James Romans,
J. W.; Edmund Duggan, I.G. ; George Brown, Treasurer; Robert Gibton,
Tyler; John Fox, M.D., Secretary.

The Lodge met at the Merchant's Exchange rooms on the third
Monday of each month.

John Willis, the founder of the Lodge and its first Master, had a
long and interesting Masonic career. Born March 12, 1800 at Cootehill,
County Caven, Ireland, of English and Scottish parents, he came to the
United States and settled at Cincinnati, where he was employed as a
weaver. Initiated into Freemasonry in Cincinnati, he was in due course
elected to the chair, and was also a member of a lodge in Pittsburg, where
he was exalted a Royal Arch Mason in R.A. Chapter No. 113 in 1825,
and was also a member of a Chapter in Detroit. Moving to Kingston,
Upper Canada, he joined Concord Lodge and Chapter there, and while a
resident there received the Knight Templar degree, in 1827.

About 1830 he was burned out, and went to Boston, and from there
to Halifax, where he resided from 1830 to 1854. In this period he was
active in many Lodges, Chapters, and the K.T. Encampment. In 1854
he removed to Saint John, New Brunswick, where he joined Hibernia
Lodge No. 301 (Ireland) now No. 3 (G.R.N.B.) ; was a charter member
and first W.M. of Leinster Lodge No. 347 (Ireland), and prominent in
other branches of Masonry.

About 1858 the Lodge seems to have changed its name to Indus Lodge,
probably in honour of H.M.S. "Indus," then on the North Atlantic Station,
a ship of seventy-eight guns, the flagship of the Vice-Admiral, Sir
Houston Stewart, on this station from 1858-60. She was the last flagship
to be stationed at Halifax, propelled by sails alone; and was succeeded
by the "Nile," under the command of Rear Admiral Sir Alexander Milne.

In 1854 the officers of Shamrock Lodge No. 331 were:

John Willis, W.M.
George Gordon, S.W.
James Romans, J.W., P.T.
George Grown, Treasurer
John Fox, M.D., Secretary
James Grant, S.D.
Dennis Rinn, J.D.
Edmund Duggan, I.G.
Robert Gibson, Tyler

During the years 1853 to 1860 twenty-eight brethren were registered
in the books of the Grand Lodge in Dublin. This would not represent the
total number raised for several names have come down to us which would
indicate that brethren raised in the Lodge demitted shortly afterwards, and
before any Returns were made to the Grand Lodge.

—913—

In the Archives of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia are several
certificates and demits issued by Lodge No. 331, and a complete list of
members from 1853-59.

Evidently non-recognition by the other Halifax Lodges and the
departure of Willis from the city in 1857 had an adverse effect, and in
October 1860 the Warrant was returned.

CONCLUSION

Such is the record in brief of the Irish Civilian Lodges in Canada,
probably more permanent and tangible in its results than the influence of
the Irish Military Lodges which came and went from time to time.

The present Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario may
be regarded as outstanding evidence of the Irish influence, far-reaching
in its effects, inspiring the Canadian Brethren with the desire for autonomy
and independence.

But the influence of Irish Freemasonry has continued on into our
Masonic history in the more prominent lodges which we have with us in
these latter days;

St. John's Lodge, London, Ontario,

King Solomon's Lodge, Toronto,

St. John's Lodge, Hamilton,

Antiquity Lodge No. 1, Montreal,

Hibernia Lodge, and

Union Lodge of Portland, Saint John, N.B.,

Sussex Lodge, St. Stephen, N.B., and

Acacia Lodge, Amherst, N.S. have carried forward many
of the traditions and customs, and even in some cases the ritual inherited
from their Irish ancestors.

On this occasion it is well worthwhile to recall our indebtedness to
this group of Irish Lodges which in part laid the foundations of our
Masonic structure.

I am indebted to many brethren for assistance in preparing this paper,
and particularly to Bro. R. E. Parkinson, the author of Vol. II of the
History of The Grand Lodge of Ireland; A. J. B. Milborne of Knowlton,
P. Que., President of the Canadian Masonic Research Association; the
Secretaries of several existing Canadian Lodges of Irish descent also
to Robertson's History of Freemasonry in Canada; and the Archives
of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia.

—914-

»■ »m^ -■■*

,4.

I i No. 49
I

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

19 5 9

History of

(Sion) Zion Lodge No. 21, F. & A.M.

at Kingston and Sussex, N.B.
(1792-1959)

By M. W. Bro Ralph T. Pearson, P.C.M. (N.B.)

Read at the 26th Meeting of the Association, held at
Saint John, N.B., May 27, 1959.

>■■ <^^0l ^^H MM»H)| ■

■

'I
I

■

I
I

■

I
3

■

—915—

History of

(Sion) Zion Lodge No. 2\, F. & A.M.

at Kingston and Sussex^ N.B.

(1792 . 1959)

By M. W. Bro. Ralph T. Pearson, P.C.M. (N.B.)

Zion Lodge, originally Sion Lodg€, was instituted in 1792 at Kingston,
where it held meetings until 1798. In 1799 it moved to Sussex Vale, now
Sussex, and it has been located here since.

* 5|« *

At the meeting of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, working under
the Grand Lodge of England, held on June 6, 1792, a memorial dated
February 11, 1792, was read from Bro. Azor Betts, a P.M., "and sundry
other Brethren praying a Warrant be granted for holding a Lodge at
Masons' Hall at Kingston in Kings County, New Brunswick." The
prayer of the petitioners was granted and a warrant dated August 15,
1792, issued to Christopher Sower as Master, Samuel Ketchum, as S.W.,
and William Hutchinson as J.W., authorizing them "to form and hold a
Lodge at Masons' Hall (now kept by Ebenezer Spicer), or elsewhere in
the Township of Kingston on the first Monday after the Full Moon in
every Calendar month." The name approved and the number assigned by
Grand Lodge to the new Lodge was Sion Lodge No. 21.

On August 27, 1792, Francis M. Dixon, William S. Oliver, and James
Hoyt were appointed on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia to
constitute the lodge. They met on October 5, 1792, and organized the
lodge and installed the first officers.

In the first years of the lodge the membership increased very rapidly
and included a considerable number of men of influence and prominence.
Then came two or three years when few came into the lodge. In February,
1798, we find the lodge asking Grand Lodge to approve the removal to
Bro. Ebenezer Spicer's rooms at Sussez Vale "which would enable us in
the present year to discharge all our debts."

Christopher Sower, the first Master of Sion Lodge, was born at
Germantown, near Philadelphia, January 27, 1754, and was a painter
by trade. From 1778 to the close of the war he was in New York. At
the evacuation he went to London to seek compensation. In addition to
obtaining an allowance, and a pension, he was appointed deputy postmaster-
general and King's Printer of New Brunswick. The first post office and
printing office were on Dock Street in what is now Saint John, and here
he published The Royal Gazette and Weekly Advertiser.

—916—

In 1790 he purchased a large tract of land at French Village (Ham-
mond River), whence he removed his presses and continued his business.

In 1792 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Legislature. The
same year he became the founder and the first Master of Sion Lodge,
then at Kingston. While on a visit to Philadelphia in connection with his
business, he died in 1799, at the early age of forty-three.

Andrew Stockton, one of the founders of the lodge was born at
Princeton, N.J., January 3, 1760, and died at Sussex Vale, May 8, 1821.
His marriage to Hannah Sister on April 4, by Hon. George Leonard,
was the first marriage in Parr Town, now the City of Saint John. He
served as a lieutenant in the Loyalist Army. His descendants in New
Brunswick, Ontario, Austraha and the United States are very numerous.

Rev. Oliver Arnold was the first secretary of Parr Town. Shortly
afterward he settled at Sussex Vale. In 1792 he was ordained by Bishop
Inglis of Nova Scotia and appointed rector of Sussex. In the same year
he was initiated in Sion Lodge. On several occasions he held the position
of Worshipful Master, occupying the chair for seventeen years at different
periods between 1795 and 1821. He died in 1834, at the age of seventy-nine.

Another distinguished member of Sion Lodge No. 21 was David
Waterbury, initiated in 1792. Born in Stamford, Conn., in 1758, he came
to Saint John and became a merchant and contractor. He held many
important public positions — alderman, captain and major of Artillery,
chief engineer of the fire department, a founder of Trinity Church and for
a long time one of its vestrymen. He died in November, 1833, at the age
of seventy-five, and was buried with Masonic, Military and Public
honors. He was a man of sterling integrity, benevolent instincts and was
ever faithful to duty, both public and private.

Hon. Joshua Upham came from Brookfield, Mass. He was a graduate
of Harvard University, class of 1763 and of Yale College 1765. In July,
1794, he was initiated in Sion Lodge. He resided at French Village, Ham-
mond River, Kings County. While on a visit, November 1, 1808, he died
in England at the age of sixty-seven.

Hon. George Leonard, who affiliated in November, 1799, was born
in Plymouth, Mass., November 28, 1742. He was appointed an agent to
settle Loyalists on Crown Lands in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and
was one of the first grantees of Parr Town, where he erected a very fine
mansion. He was the first city treasurer and one of the first alderman
named in the charter of the city. In 1787 he was appointed to the Legisla-
tive Council; he was quartermaster-general of the militia forces in New
Brunswick, a judge of the court of common pleas, and a lieutenant-
colonel of militia in Kings County. He resided at Sussex, where he owned
a large tract of valuable land. He served a term as Worshipful Master of
Sion Lodge in 1801, and died on April 1, 1826, at the age of eighty-four.
He was a distinguished public servant, respected and venerated by the
whole community, and an honored and beloved member of the Craft.

-917—

William Fairweather was born in the Province of New York, and came
with his parents to Saint John in 1783 or 1784 at the age of eleven. About
1796 he removed to Kings County and engaged in farming. In that year he
was initiated in Sion Lodge becoming its Worshipful Master in 1820. He
died November 7, 1842, aged seventy.

Benjamin F. March, who was initiated in Sion Lodge in 1813, was
born in Vermont, from whence he removed in his youth, becoming a
resident of Hampton. In August, 1813, he married a daughter of Caleb
Wetmore. Both he and his prospective father-in-law had previously taken
their degrees together in Sion Lodge in March and April of the same year.

In April 1799, we find Elkanah Morton making application to be initia-
ted into Masonry. "Mr. Morton," the Lodge Secretary writes, "is in high
esteem and much respected among us and could he be admitted, we have
no doubt would be a valuable and useful member. He is, however, so
unfortunate as to have lost his right leg, taken off above his knee, and
whether under such a blemish he can by any means be admitted, we wish
to know, upon the general principles of Masonry without the consent
and permission of the Grand Lodge, we are sensible we cannot admit him.
He is at present in a comfortable situation and has such fair prospects
before him, that we have not the smallest ground to fear that he shall
become burdensome to the Lodge."

From other evidence in the Archives, it would appear that he had lost
his leg by the accidental discharge of Governor Arbuthnot's pistol. The
Lodge persuaded the Secretary to travel to Halifax in 1800 and to petition
the Grand Lodge on the subject. The Grand Lodge resolved "that any
person having been born perfect should not be deprived the rights and
privileges of Masonry in consequence of any subsequent misfortune," and
instructed the Lodge accordingly. He was initiated on March 16, 1801,
but removed to Digby, N.S. in 1802, having been appointed Collector of
Customs in that place. Here he held several positions of trust and responsi-
bility. He affiliated with Digby Lodge No. 6, and became prominent in
connection with its affairs.

Bro W. F. Bunting, in his "History of Freemasonry in New Bruns-
wick," expresses the opinion that Sion Lodge ceased to exist in 1825.
This opinion is not based on facts as at present time (1959) Zion Lodge
No. 21, G.L.N.B., has in its possession several documents to show the
continuance of the lodge between these dates.

In a letter received by Wor. Bro. J. J. Daly from Rt. Wor. Bro.
Reginald V. Harris, Past Grand Master of Nova Scotia and Grand
Historian, dated December 30, 1930. He states: "I duly received yours of
the 10th instant. Since writing you a year ago I have been able to go
through the minute book of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia for the
period 1792 to 1869, and have noted all the references to Sion Lodge No.
21, Sussex. They show the continued existence of the Lodge for the period
1792 to 1831, but there does not seem to have been any returns made
between 1831 and 1869."

—918—

There are at least 125 documents, such as letters, petitions and returns,
among th€ Masonic papers of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia at Halifax
in conection with old Sion Lodge No. 21.

Th€ following demit is now in possession of Zion Lodge, No. 21 :

SION LODGE NO. 21

To All Whom It May Concern:

We do hereby certify that Brother James McEllman is a regular
Registered Master Mason in Sion Lodge No. 21, held at Sussex Vale in
the Province of New Brunswick, and has during his stay among us
behaved himself as becomes an honest Brother.

Given under our Hands this seventh day of January, 5825

John Barbaric, Master

Daniel Sheck, Senior Warden

Lemuel Coates ,Junior Warden.
Oliver Cougle,

Secretary,

Admitted of the Third day of October, 5825

Declared off on the Twenty Seventh day of February, 5828

In an old Book of Lodge By-laws in possession of the same Lodge is
the record of a meeting held June 17, 1829.

"This being a regular night the Worshipful Master opened the Lodge
and after Prayers the names of the Brethren were taken.

James McEllman W.M.

Thomas Corey S.W.

James Starkey J.W.

Wm. Teakle Secty.

William Allwood entered and passed his fellow Crafe degree, 5,
five shillings.

The Lodge then closed in due form.

God Save the King. Amen."

T* ^ T*

According to a statement in the front of the book, this meeting would
seem to have been held at the house of the Master in the Parish of Sussex,
County of Kings.

—919—

The Lodge is believed to have met occasionally from house to house.
Some brethren of the old lodge must have kept its interests alive for the
jewels, collars and aprons of the Lodge were handed on to the present
Zion Lodge No. 2L These were, however, destroyed by fire, along with the
records and other lodge property in 1887.

From all data which it was possible to gather, it appears that in
about 1824 Sion Lodge became so far indebted to the Grand Lodge of
Nova Scotia that the lodge found it impossible to pay the Grand Lodge
and, although the Grand Lodge records show no action taken it is
obvious that the Grand Lodge just dropped Sion as a paying lodge, but
the members of Sion Lodge continued to meet and transact business and
were recognized by the neighbouring Lodge; that the warrant became lost
and was never returned to the Grand Lodge; and that about 1860 Sion
Lodge became so active and probably so Masonically wise that only then
were they aware of its irregularities and so sought a new warrant, which
they obtained in 1863. No doubt one of the causes of arrears was the
fact that when any deserving member required assistance the Lodge would
ask the Grand Lodge to allow them to hold over one-half of the Grand
Lodge dues for the relief of said brother, with promise of paying it back
later.

There is a strong tradition, moreover, that the present lodge is the
continuation of the old Sion Lodge, and the persistence of this tradition,
particularly among the oldest members, thought not conclusive, is signi-
ficant.

David Waterbury, a distinguished member of Sion Lodge, as stated
before, died in November, 1833 and was buried with Masonic honors.
While not conclusive this is one more proof Sion Lodge was functioning
in 1833 as Masonic honors at the grave are the responsibility of his mother
Lodge Sion No. 21.

Thomas Cochrane and Nathan W. Foster, Master Masons of Sion
Lodge, Sussex Vale were charter members of Sussex Lodge, Dorchester,
constituted in 1840, and Sussex Lodge was so named by them.

In 1850, thirteen years before the charter to the present lodge, old Sion
Lodge met at Sussex Corner. This is vouched for by John Humphrey, a
P.M. of Zion Lodge for the year 1893 (he died in the fall of 1930, aged
ninety-one) who remembers his uncle, William Teakles, being referred to
as secretary in 1829, and as secretary-treasurer about 1850.

Mrs. W. W. Price, Dr. J. J. Daly's mother-in-law, informed him some
time ago that she remembers Zion Lodge from Sussex, meeting at her
Uncle David Boyd's home near Petitcodiac between 1852 and 1855. She
knew it was "Zion," as she and her cousin used to sing about "Mount
Zion" while they were getting the house ready for the meetings. She
said her father had difficulty trying to find a tall beaver hat for Uncle
David to wear at one of the meetings.

—920—

M>t I'jftt >w>»i<fiHwiaj**

««rtMMAlMtoa»gMMAo*4H>Me»<)

,„*^,^^.^^

iX'w ft W ffl jniXt 'WW ii i Mii ' ift ija s ;

*'JSS?W*S'*S««*(*RW

—921—

THE PAST MASTERS OF ZION LODGE NO. 21, F. & A.M.

Top Row: (Reading from left to right)

Rev. Oliver Arnold— 1795, 1800, '03-07, '10-14, '16-19, 1821

Hon. George Leonard — 1801

Enoch Dole— 1823

John King— 1824-25

Joseph H. Littlehale— 1863

John McPherson— 1865-68

Alfred Markham— 1869

Second Row:

William A. Henderson— 1872

Henry A. White— 1874, 1885-86 — Grand Standard Bearer 1874, G/and
Sword Bearer 1877, Senior Grand Warden 1881, Senior Grand Deacon
1885, District Deputy Grand Master 1888, 1890; Deputy Grand
Master 1890

George Coggon— 1876-77, 1890, 1898 — Senior Grand Warden, 1889, Junior
Grand Deacon 1897, District Deputy Grand Master 1906, Deputy
Grand Master 1906.

John A. Humphrey— 1878, 1893 — Grand Pursuivant 1887

Rev. Charles Medley— 1879 — Grand Chaplain 1881

Joseph R. Tyrell— 1881

William T. McLeod — 1883 — Grand Sword Bearer 1895, Senior Grand
Deacon 1911.

Third Row:

Alfred E. McLeod— 1884
John Thompson— 1887-88
Charles H. Fairweather— 1889
Rev. L. A. Fenwick— 1891-92
Charles W. J. Upham— 1894-95
James R. McLean— 1896-97
James T. Kirk— 1889

Fourth Row:

Robert Morrison — 1900 — Junior Grand Deacon 1903, Junior Grand
Warden 1904.

Ora P. King — 1901 — Grand Director of Ceremonies 1901.

D. Hallet Fairweather— 1902

Jasper J. Daly — 1903 — Grand Assistant Director of Ceremonies 1913.

W. Murray Huestis — 1904

Herbert E. Good — 1906 — Grand Pursuivant 1906, Grand Assistant
Director of Ceremonies 1908, Grand Director of Ceremonies 1909,
District Deputy Grand Master 1911, Senior Grand Warden 1917.

Lewis R. Murray — 1907.

—922—

In the minutes of The Corinthian Lodge, Hampton, we find Enoch
Dole of Sion Lodge made an honorary member of The Corinthian Lodge
No. 13, March 26, 1856.

On May 21, 1856, the same lodge instructed its secretary to invite
Brothers Thomas Arnold, Enoch Dole, Daniel Sheck, Elias Snider, Silas
DeForest and William Teakles, members of Zion Lodge No. 21, Sussex,
to attend the regular meeting in June.

There is considerable evidence of activity between 1856 and 1862, at
the time of the building of the Intercolonial Railway, now the Canadian
National, from Saint John to Shediac. The members at Sussex, as before
stated, asked for a new charter on April 13, 1863. The Grand Lodge of
England granted a warrant to Zion Lodge under which the Lodge worked
until it was exchanged for a new warrant from the Grand Lodge of New
Brunswick, May 21, 1868, when the lodge, by design or coincidence, it
would seem, was assigned No. 21 and so Sion Lodge No. 21, on the
Registry of tre Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, became Zion Lodge No. 21,
on the Registry of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick. The spelling
became changed. It was first spelled in 1792 by the Greek method but in
1863 it was given the Hebrew spelling. Thus the Greek spelling is "Sion"
and the Hebrew spelling is "Zion," which latter spelling it still retains on
the Registry of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick.

* * *

In 1903 the old charter of Sion Lodge, which had never been surrend-
ered, was discovered at Hampton and returned to Zion Lodge. In passing,
though perhaps of no value as evidence, it should be noted that the old

JOSEPH H. LITTLEHALE HOUSE

A meeting place of Zion Lodge No. 21

-923—

RESIDENCE. HON. GEORGE LEONARD

A meeting place of Zion Lodge No. 21

lodge held its regular meetings on the first Monday of each month,
and that day has always been the time for the meetings of the present-
day Zion Lodge.

The original charter was found in an old trunk in the jail barn at
Hampton, by Bro. Fred M. Sproul, a son of the jailer, who believed it had
been stolen from the house of the late Bro. Henry Hallet, a past master
of The Corinthian Lodge and former member of Sion Lodge, by a man
who was often a trusty prisoner in jail.

This warrant was handed to the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick
and afterwards passed to Zion Lodge No. 21, and is now in the custody
of the lodge.

Gould's "History of Freemasonry throughout the World, Volume IV"
written under the supervision of Melvin M. Johnson, Past Grand Master
of Masons in Massachussetts, states on page 44: "Sion Lodge No. 21,
warranted at Kingston, New Brunswick, in 1792 was removed in 1799
to Sussex Vale. Its history can be traced to the year 1829. It seems to
have met occasionally between that date and 1850, at which time it resumed
activity. In 1863 the Lodge obtained a new warrant from the Grand
Lodge of England, by which it was known as Zion Lodge. In 1868 this
warrant was exchanged for a new one issued by the newly-organized
Grand Lodge of New Brunswick. At that time, by a curious coincidence,
the Lodge was registered as No. 21. Today the lodge is active and flourish-

ing.'

It is quite clear that the Zion Lodge No. 21 of today is entitled to date
its origin back to 1792.

—924—

PAST MASTERS SION ZION LODGE NO. 21, F. & A.M.,

1792 - 1959

Ora P. King

D. Hallet Fairweather
Jasper J. Daly
W. Murray Huestis
Harvey Mitchell
Herbert E. Goold
Lewis R. Murray
James Lamb
Rev. Scovil Neales
Melbourne P. Titus
H. Gordon McLean
Linus S. Crawford

E. DeBlois Bailey
William D. Turner
Charles H. Perry
William B. McKay
John S. Knox
James D. McKenna
Charles T. Nesbitt
Albert E. Pearson
Weeden F. Myles
O. Percy Wilbur
Gordon B. McKay
Harry H. Reid
J. F. Eldon Robinson
George Coggon Jr.
Hon. James A. Murray
Ralph T. Pearson
Harry W. Black
Burton M. McAlary
Harry R. Lisson
Alexander C. Gorham
Harry L Evans
Heber J. Cripps
Rev. Mansel C. Shewen
Lawrence E. Bayley
W. Alward King
Frank H. Morton
Wilson Thompson
W. Clark Elliott
Ralph T. Pearson
Harry N. Jonah
B. Everett Lounsbury
John W. Jones
William F. Armstrong
Austin D. Thorne
Derrell F. L. Ernst
George J. Langell
H. Murray Bell
Anthony G. Mills
George H. Hall
Paul E. McMulkin
Lloyd L. Steeves
John J. Scott
George B. Pearson
William P. Gamblin
Norman L. Lutz

1792-93

Christopher Sower

1901

1794

Richard W. Stockton W

1902

1795, 1800

1, 1803-1807, 1810-1814, 1816-

1903

1819, 1821

Rev. Oliver Arnold

1904

1796-97

William Hutchinson

1905

1798

Samuel Ketchum

1906

1799

Israel Perry

1907

1801

Hon. George Leonard

1908

1802

George Pittfield

1909

1808-09

Jasper Belding

1910

:815

Lewis Frazee

1911

1820

William Fairweather

1912

1822

Samuel Freeze

j913

1823

Enock Dole

1914

1824-25

John King

1915

1826-27

John Barbaric

1916

1828

Thonas Covey

1917

1829

James McEllmon

1918

William Teakles

1919

Thomas Perry

1920

John Starkey

1921

Daniel Sheck

1922

Azor Betts

1923

James Moore

1924

William Peters

1925

Israel Holt

1926

Silas Raymond

1927

Dennis McCarty

1928

1863

Joseph H. Littlehale

1929

1864

William Aitken

1930

1865-8 Inc. John McPherson

1931

1869

Alfred Markham

1932

1870

Joseph D. McMonagle

1933

1871

George H. Pick

1934

1872

William A. Henderson

1935

1873

John S. McLaren

1936

1874

Henry A. White

:i937

1875

Rev. W. W. Brewer

1938

1876-77

George Coggon

1939

1878

John A. Humphreys

1940

1879

Rev. Charles S. Medley

1941

1880

Henry Teakles

1942-43

1881

Joseph R. Tyrell

1944

1882

Andrew J. Munroe

1945-46

1883

William T. McLeod

1947

1884

Alfred E. McLeod

1948

1885-86

Henry A. White

1949

1887-88

John Thompson

1950

1889

Charles H. Fairweather

1951

1890

George Coggon

1952

1891-92

Rev. L. A. Fenwick

1953

1893

John A. Humphrey

1954

1894-95

Charles W. J. Upham

1955

1896-97

James R. McLean

1956

1898

George Coggon

1957

1899

James T. Kirk

1958

1900

Robert Morrison

1959

—925-

—926—

1 4— ■^■.— — — — — — — — — M— .^——.^

NO. 50

CANADIAN j,

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

THE STORY OF HIRAM LODGE NO. 17

Saint John, N.B., (1784-98)

-by-

M. W. BRO. R. V. HARRIS, P.C.M.

f i Nova Scotia

i
I

I I Read at the 26th Meeting of the Association

I 1 held at Saint John, N.B., May 27th, 1959

j I (being the 175th Anniversary of the founding of

j : Freemasonry in New Brunswick)

I
I

—927—

— 1^ I

— ■ ■« »

HIRAM LODGE No. 17, SAINT JOHN N.B.

(1784-1796)

M. W. BRO. R. V. HARRIS, P.C.M. (N.S.)

At the close of the American Revolutionary War, many thousands of
those who had been loyal to the British cause, were obliged to leave their
homes and possessions and seek shelter elsewhere. Although guaranteed by
the Treaty of Peace, the protection of the State, no attention was paid to this
guarantee and all who were tainted with loyalty to the British connection,
whether they had borne arms or not, were driven out and their property
confiscated.

Most of the Loyalists fled to New York, where the task of providing
transports and food and clothing was handled with marked efficiency by Sir
Guy Carleton.

On April 16th, 1783 the first fleet of twenty transports with 3000 exiles
sailed from New York for the mouth of the River Saint John, arriving May
11th. The majority were not able to disembark until May 18th the day since
celebrated as the anniversary of the Landing of the Loyalists. This fleet was
succeeded by others, and it is estimated that at least 10,000 settled in the valley
of the Saint John.

The first season was very trying to the Loyalists, a large percentage of
whom were gentle folk unaccustomed to hardships. They were forced to seek
shelter in tents and primitive shacks. The sufferings of the aged and infirm, of
women and children, were very great, but were endured with amazing fortitude,
though many died of cold and exposure.

The new Town was named Parr Town in honour of Governor John Parr.
The town was laid out in 1454 lots by Paul Bedell, and extended on the East
side of the harbour from Sheffield St. on the south to Union St. on the north.
All south of Sheffield St. was reserved for military purposes and all north of
Union St. was granted to Simonds, White and Hazen who had been in business
at Portland Point since 1764.

One year after the first landing 276 wooden houses and dwellings had been
erected but on June 18, 1784, a fire swept away many of the houses.

In 1784, that part of Nova Scotia lying north of the Bay of Fundy was
set up as the Province of New Brunswick. Col. Thomas Carleton, brother of
Sir Guy Carleton who had commanded the British forces in New York, was
appointed by the Crown as the first governor. Col. Carleton arrived in Saint
John on Nov. 21, 1784 and within a short time a Council for the Province, a
Supreme Court and civic organization were set up.

—928—

On May 18, 1785, the second anniversary of the arrival of the Loyalists,
the name Parr Town was discarded, the City was given a royal charter and
took the name of "Saint John." The charter was later confirmed by statute in
1786 at the first session of the General Assembly of New Brunswick.

Hiram Lodge Organized

The first lodge in the new City of Saint John was Hiram Lodge No. 17,
the first record of which is an application for a dispensation dated at Halifax,
Nova Scotia, March 6th, 1784, signed by Elias Hardy who was in that town
on professional business as an Attorney. This application was addressed to
"The Worshipful John "George Pyke, Esqr. Master of Lodge 211, Antient York
Masons, Halifax," and reads as follows —

*T am desired by a considerable number of respectable Antient York
Masons at Parr Town in this Province to represent to your Worship that
they labor under many inconveniences from the want of a regularly con-
stituted Lodge in that place and that such an establishment would not only
confer a very sensible obligation on them but contribute in their opinion
to the benefit of the Craft in general. It is their request that until a
Warrant can be obtained from home your Worship will be pleased to favor
them with a dispensation wherein the Rev'd John Beardsley shall be
nominated Master, Captain Oliver Bourdett, Senior Warden, and Mr. John
Grinley, Junior Warden. I shall do myself the Honor to wait on your
Worship this evening, and am, with respect. Sir, Yr. Worship's Most obed.
Brother. (Sgd.) Elias Hardy, Master Mason of Lodge 169."

At this time the only lodges in Halifax were Lodge No. 155 (now St.
Andrew's No. 1), Lodge No. 211 (now St. John's, No. 2) Union lodge under
dispensation (later known as No. 1), and Virgin Lodge (later known as No.
2). The officers and Past Masters of these lodges met in Quarterly Communi-
cation, and to this body the request was made. A meeting took place that same
evening March 6th 1784 and three days later, March 9th, 1784, we find "Joseph
Peters, Secretary of the Quarterly Communication" writing the Rev'd John
Beardsley enclosing "a dispensation for forming and holding a Lodge &c
"granted by Lodges 155 and 211."

Elias Hardy* (1785) who had been one of the leaders in establishing the
Lodge did not become a member until Jan. 3rd, 1785. He was born at Farn-
ham, in the County of Surrey, the son of a non-conformist minister. Educated
for the Bar, he was admitted an attorney and solicitor in the Court of King's
Bench at Westminster Hall in 1770 and emigrated to Virginia in April 1775 and
acted as tutor in the family of Dr. Mercer of Fredericksburg for a year.
Disapproving of Paine's "Common Sense," he was threatened with tar and
feathers and fled to Maryland. From there in June 1777, he escaped by H.M.S.
"Phoenix," then in Chesapeake Bay and came to New York. Here he formed
a partnership with John L. C. M. Roome. Both of them became members of
Lodge No. 169 New York. He was commissioned a public notary on April
18th, 1778.

^?**77^''^^i^''^'"^y' Counsellor at Law, by Rev. W. O. Raymond, N.B. Hist. Soc. Coll
vol. 10, p. 67.

—929—

During the ensuing years of storm and stress he continued to practise his
profession at New York. He soon became the champion and spokesman for
the hundreds of LoyaHsts seeking new homes in Nova Scotia. Through his
efforts New Brunswick was set off as a separate Province in 1784.

Hardy was admitted an attorney of the new Province on February 1st,
1785. In 1790 he became Common Clerk of the City of Saint John, retaining
the position until his death. He was also surrogate for the city and county and
Clerk of the Court of Chancery. At the election held in November 1785 for
members of the General Assembly, Hardy was elected to represent Miramichi,
and in 1792 as a member for the city and county of Saint John.

Known as "the London Lawyer" he acted as attorney in many of the
most notable cases tried in the New Brunswick courts in his day including the
celebrated slander action brought by Benedict Arnold against Monson Hoyt.

His wife was Martha (incorrectly Emma), daughter of Dr. Peter Hugge-
ford, a surgeon in the Loyal American Regiment. After his death, she returned
to New York and established a millinery business at Lansingburgh.

Hardy died at his residence on the South side of King St. midway between
Charlotte and Germain, on Christmas Day 1793, and was buried in the cemetery
near King Square.

Rev. John Beardsley* named as first Master was the first Junior Grand
Warden of the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York in 1781-2-3, and was a
member of Lodge No. 210. He came with the Loyalists to St. John in 1783,
and was the first clergyman of the Church of England to officiate in Saint
John. During the early years of Freemasonry in New Brunswick he took an
active interest in its progress.

Oliver Bourdett (1784) the first S.W. was a member of Lodge No. 210
(Ancients) New York. In 1781 he was Wagon Master-General of the British
Army. He led 180 men, women and children from New York to Saint John
in 1783.

He succeeded the Rev. John Beardsley as Master of Hiram Lodge in 1785
and was secretary of the Lodge in 1791. On Dec. 7th, 1802, he joined St.
John's Lodge No. 29. He was Deputy Clerk of Saint John in 1792, Sergeant
in the Loyal Company of Artillery in 1793 and held other local positions of trust.

He died Jan. 29th, 1806, in the 55th year of his age. His widow died in
Halifax May Uth, 1813 aged 74 years. (Amer. Lodge of Research, vol, 2
p. 265).

John Paul (1784) the first Junior Warden, was a native of Lanark,
Scotland, and was probably made a Mason in Scotland. He was a Sergeant
in the Royal Artillery during the Revolution, and fought at the battles of

Note — The Rev. John Beardsley (1732-1809) by R. V. Harris. Transactions No. 33
C.M.R.A. Feb. 10, 1956.

—930—

Lexington, Bunker Hill, Brandywine, Long Island, Germantown, &c. At
Lexington, he is said to have fired the first gun on the British side, and in
the engagement received a severe wound. He was a member of Lodge 213,
New York, and was exalted as a R.A. Mason in the Chapter attached to that
Lodge. Coming to Saint John at the end of the War he was appointed to the
staff of the Ordnance department. He was one of the founders of St. John's
Lodge, Saint John, though he never held office therein, and also of Carleton
R.A. Chapter, Saint John.

He died April 29th, 1833, at the ripe age of 82, enjoying the respect and
esteem of the community, and was buried in the old burial ground near King
Square, Saint John.

David Melville (1784) the first Secretary 1784-85, became J.W. and S.W.
but did not become the Master of the Lodge. He was a tavern keeper. In
1784 he published in the "Royal St. John's Gazette and Nova Scotia Intelli-
gencer" (September 9th, 1784) a prospectus for printing a history of the new
settlement.

Richard Bonsall (1784) the first Treasurer was a merchant, and served
as Master in 1786 and 1787.

First Meeting

The next reference to the Lodge is a notice published in "The Royal St.
John's Gazette and Nova Scotia Intelligencer" of Thursday, September 9,
1784, "printed at St. John's by Lewis & Ryan, at their printing office, No. 59
Prince William Street :"

"At a meeting of a respectable body of Ancient Brethren, the 7th
instant, it was agreed to give this notice to every Ancient Brother Mason
on the river Saint John, that on Tuesday, the 21st instant, will be held
at Bro. Kirk's, a meeting of Ancient Masons at his new Lodge room,
Lower Cove, for the purpose of preparing and installing the proper officers
for constituting a lodge, when the attendance of every Ancient Brother
is earnestly requested."

Parr, September 8th, 1784.

John Kirk Tavern Keeper was a former member of Lodge No. 210
(Ancients) New York. His Inn was at the corner of Brittain and Germain
Streets. He sold the property to James Hoyt who later sold to George
Younghusband, both members of Hiram Lodge.

Under the dispensations referred to the Lodge was opened and the officers
installed on Sept. 21st, 1784, by Dr. Azor Betts, John Paul being installed as
J.W. instead of John Grinley who never became a member of the Lodge. At
the same meeting the name "Hiram Lodge" was adopted and it was decided
to hold regular meetings of the Lodge on the first and third Tuesdays of each
month.

Dr. Azor Betts who installed the first officers of the new Lodge was
previously Senior Warden of Lodge No. 210 A.Y.M. New York, founded in
1779.

"A well known Practitioner of Physick in New York and noted for his
success in Inoculation" (1779).

—931—

In the Spring of 1775, a member of the New York City Militia; got into
difficulties with the Continental authorities and spent several months as a
prisoner, first in Esopus Gaol and later in the New Gaol in New York City.

Arrested in New York in November 1775 for carrying intelligence on
board the "Duchess of Gordon" and the "Asia" and for attempting to spike some
cannon at Kingsbridge and was condemned to death, but escaped in June 1776
and joined the British forces before they entered New York.

Another record says that he was arrested in January 1776 for saying of
the Provincial and Continental Congresses that they were "a set of damned
rascals and acted only to further their own nests, and not to serve their
country."

In February 1776 he addressed a petition to the Provincial Congress
apparently for his release, for in a list of prisoners in the New Gaol July 12,
1776 the words "disch'd. gave bond" appear against his name.

Commissioned as a Captain-Lieutenant in the King's American Rangers,
and besides fighting in the Jerseys, was for 18 months at Morrisiana attending
to his patients.

Also served as the King's Surgeon in Wolfe's Corps at the taking of Quebec
in 1759, and it is said that Wolfe died in his arms, but his name has not been
found in any list of Provincial officers, nor has any other mention been found
of service with Wolfe.*

He joined Hiram Lodge in 1789 but never held office. He promoted the
formation of Zion Lodge at Kingston, N.B. in 1792.

Membership

The original membership of the Lodge was drawn chiefly from Lodge
No. 210 New York. Three more from that Lodge affiliated in the next six
m.onths, together with two from Lodge No. 169 New York.

To Lodge No. 210 (Ancients) belonged:

Rev. John Beardsley

Oliver Bourdett

William Perrino

James McNeale

Joseph Green

Edward Erwine or Irwin

William Lewis

Francis Young

John Kirk

John Morton

Capt. Wm. Wattleworth

Richard Finnemore

Azor Betts

Wm. Simmons

Thomas Hanford

Note — Amer. Lodge of Research, vol. IV, p. 445, 52

—932—

To Lodge No. 169 (Ancients) belonged:

Elias Hardy

Capt. Peter McPherson

James Bell

John Graham

William Campbell

To St. George's Lodge No. 2 New York, known later as No. 19 belonged :

Thomas Jennings
Arthur Maddox

Warrant

One of the first acts of the new Lodge was to make application direct to
the Grand Lodge of England (Ancients) for a Warrant. This application was
entrusted to Capt. Peter McPherson (formerly of Lodge No. 169, New York),
who was proceeding to England on a troopship, but neither he nor the appli-
cation were ever heard from afterwards. On hearing of the Charter granted
in 1784 by the ''Ancients" for a Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia, Hiram
Lodge after working for nearly two years under the dispensation, applied in
May 1786, for a regular warrant under which it might continue its work. It
would seem strange that a Warrant was not issued to it without any formal
application on the formation of the Provincial Grand Lodge as was done in
the case of Union and Virgin Lodges.

The application had the support of William Campbell D.G.M. and a
Warrant was granted on December 6th, 1786, in which Richard Bonsall was
named Master ; David Melville, S.W. and John Stoddard, J.W. and the Lodge
was assigned the number 17 on the Provincial Roll.

The Warrant was signed by His Excellency John Parr, Grand Master;
William Campbell, D.G.M. ; Richard Bulkeley, S.G.W. ; D. Wood, Jr. (in the
absence of Geo. Deblois) J.G.W. ; and Joseph Peters, Grand Secretary, and
under this Warrant the Lodge worked until 1796, when internal troubles arose
which led to the withdrawal of the Warrant.

Meeting Places

John Kirk's new lodge room was located on the north side of Brittain
Street, forty feet from the east side line of Germain Street. It was a large
two storey wooden structure, the upper storey of which was used as a Masonic
Hall, and the lower storey as a tavern, a favorite place of resort for the
people of that portion of the city familiarly known as the "lower cove." The
Lodge met at this inn until sometime in 1787 or 1788.

In the Royal Gazette for June 19, 1787, appeared the following notice:

"The Anniversary of Saint John the Baptist

Being Sunday, the 24th instant, will be observed by the members of Hiram
Lodge, Ancient Masons, on Monday, the 25th instant, at Brother Mc-
Pherson's Coffee House. Such brothers who wish to join are requested
to make application for tickets before the 23rd instant. N.B. — Divine
Service will begin at one o'clock, and dinner on the table precisely at
three o'clock.
June 19th, 1787."

—933—

Kirks Inn. Brittain St.

MACPHERSONS COFFEE HOUSE, KING AND PRINCE WILLIAM STS.

—934—

A year later on June 24th, 1788, the Secretary refers to the Lodge as
"held at Brother Charles McPherson's."

These new quarters stood on the southeast corner of Prince William and
King Streets. This lot had been granted to MacPherson on the settlement of
the city and on it he erected a large building containing a hall, private apart-
ments, stores, offices, &c. It was a noted place of resort in early days and
was known as MacPherson's Coffee House, later Cody's Coffee House, or the
Exchange Coffee House, but generally as "The Coffee House." The building
was torn down in 1853 to make room for a new brick building.

For a short time in 1790-1, the Lodge met at Richard Bonsall's, but as his
house was in "the very remote part of the Town" it was "attended with many
inconveniences" and the lodge returned to Bro. MacPherson's in May, 1791,
a notice in the Royal Gazette of Dec. 13th, 1791, announced as follows:

Masonic Notice

"The Festival of Saint John the Evangelist will be observed in the
usual form on Tuesday, the 27th instant, at Brother McPherson's Long
Room, by Hiram Lodge. Such Ancient Masons as will join in the
celebration will please leave their names at the bar of the Coffee House,
St. John.

December 13th, 1791."

Charles McPherson

During the Revolution he served in the 1st Battalion of DeLancey's
Brigade as a Lieutenant promoted Capt. -Lieut. April 1782. At the Peace he
came to Parr Town.

He built the Coffee House at the corner of Market Square and King St.

In 1811 he purchased the house at the corner of King and Cross Streets,
formerly the residence of General Benedict Arnold 1787-91, and of Attorney
General Bliss 1791-1811. Here McPherson died July 26, 1823.

Masters

In the ten years of its existence the Lodge had ten Masters, namely :

Rev. John Beardsley 1784
Oliver Bourdett 1785
Bichard Bonsall 1786-87
William S. Oliver 1788-89
William Campbell 1790
James Hayt 1791
John Sinnott 1792-93
James Hayt 1794-95

Reference has already been made to Beardsley, Bourdett and Bonsall.

—935—

William Sanford OHver (1785) who was W.M. in 1788, and 1789, was
a founder of St. John's Lodge in 1802. He came with the Loyalists and was
the first high sheriff of the city and county of Saint John, holding the office
from 1785-92, and again from 1797 until his death of February 22nd, 1812 aged
62 years. He was also Treasurer of the Province for several years and Marshal
of the Court of Vice-Admiralty. He was descended from an old New England
family of high social standing, his father, Thomas Olive being Lieut-governor
of Massachusetts in pre-Revolutionary days. A newspaper account of his
passing referred to him as :

"A man of the highest integrity and worth, who discharged his public
trusts with the utmost fidelity and satisfaction ; respected, esteemed and
deeply lamented by the whole community, verifying in his public and
private life the truism 'An honest man's the noblest work of God'."

A freestone tablet marks his burial place near King Square.
Some of the more notable members were :

WiUiam Anderson (1785) Sheriff of the County, died Jan. 2, 1811.

Arthur Maddox (1785) was commissioned as a Captain in the 4th New
Jersey Volunteers Feb. 14th, 1777 and appointed Adjutant of the Corps.

Peter McPherson (1784) served as a captain in the Royal Guides and
Pioneers, 1778, and belonged to Lodge No. 169, New York. As previously
stated, he went to England on a troopship in 1784, taking with him a petition
for a Warrant for the Lodge addressed to the Grand Lodge (Ancients) but the
troopship never arrived at its destination and Capt. McPherson was never
heard of again.

Thomas Jennings (1785) this brother's certificate or demit (or more
properly, three certificates) is in the Grand Lodge archives, written in
English, Latin and French each signed by William Sanford Oliver, Master
pro tem ; James Hoyt, S.W. ; Oliver Bourdett, J.W. pro tem and John Sinnott,
Sec'y. each certificate being dated Nov. 17th, 1790. He must have reaf filiated
for he was included among those expelled in 1796. He was treasurer in 1786
J.W. in 1792 and 1793.

Thomas Bowden (1787) Loyalist Major in 2nd Battalion DeLancey's
Brigade 1776, transferred to 3rd Battalion 1782.

Absalom Holmes (1787) "Settled in New York" appears after his
name in the Grand Lodge register.

Samuel Hake (1787) was storekeeper at Fort Howe and was charged
with embezzling provisions, etc. In the Grand Lodge register appear the words
"in Europe."

John Tool (1787) His name appears in 1814 as a Church warden of
St. Malachy's Chapel, opened in 1815. The first Roman Catholic Service held
in Saint John was held in the City Court Room by Rev. Charles French.
Towards the new church the inhabitants of St. John and Halifax contributed
nearly £800.

—936—

David Fanning (1793) was a noted cavalry ranger in the American
Revolution. He was the son of a planter and was born in Virginia in 1755.
At the outbreak of hostilities he enlisted under Col. Thomas Fleschell (or
Fletchall) and was later in command of various bodies of troops in North
Carolina under Major General James H. Craigge. He was taken prisoner
thirty-six times in that Province and on four more occasions in South Carolina,
but by many a ruse and strategem escaped from his captors or their prisons.
He captured Cross Creek now Fayetteville and imprisoned a band of Whig
militia. At the peace of 1783 he settled at Long Reach, King's County, New
Brunswick but removed in 1790 to Bay View Digby Co. where he died
March 14th, 1825. He was buried in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Church
at Digby.*

John Ryan (1795) was born in Rhode Island Oct. 7, 1761, at an early
age he went to Boston with his parents, but at the age of 16 years he was
apprenticed as a printer to John Howe of Newport. Four years later in 1780,
when that town was evacuated by the British, Ryan moved to New York along
with his employer. Here on June 25th, 1780 while still under articles as an
apprentice he married Amelia, daughter of John Mott, of Long Island, the
ceremony being performed by the Rev. John Sayre, who was afterwards the
first Church of England rector of Maugerville on the St. John River.

In 1783, he came with his wife to the new city of Parr Town and
formed a partnership with William Lewis. On Dec. 18th, 1783 they began the
publication of "The Royal Gazette and Nova Scotia Intelligencer" on the east
side of Prince William St. just north of the present post office (marked by a
tablet erected by the N.B. Loyalist Society). When the Province of New
Brunswick was set off in 1785, the name of the newspaper was changed to
"The Royal Gazette and General Advertiser".*

After several years partnership, Lewis returned to the United States,
Ryan continuing the business. About the same time Ryan became King's
Printer, succeeding Christopher Sower.

In 1799, Ryan went to St. John's, Newfoundland where he printed the
"Royal Gazette." His paper in Saint John was taken over and published by his
brother-in-law Jacob Mott, and on the latters death, his widow Ann Mott
continued the business.

In 1803, Ryan returned to Saint John and again set up business at No. 3
King St. In the same year he became a charter member of the first "Social
Club" in the Exchange Coffee House.

Ryan lived to be 86 years of age, dying in 1847 in Saint John.

Thomas Mullin (1795) one of those who held out against Grand Lodge
served on the jury which awarded Benedict Arnold twenty shillings damages
for slander, in the suit brought by him against Manson Hoyt.

(An address on the Revolutionary History of Chatham County, N.C. by Henry A London
July 4th, 1876; Wilson's History of Digby County p. 346).

Note — "Pioneer Printer, John Ryan" by Charlotte G. Robinson in Maritime Merchant.
Oct. 1943, p. 5.

—937—

James Ball (1784) merchant, a member of Lodge No. 169 New York,
was a clerk to Major Gilfred Studholme. He continued a member until 1786
and died in 1812.

Joseph Green (1784) Major in the 1st. Battalion of DeLancey's Brigade
in 1776, was a tailor.

Edward Ervine (1784) also spelled "Erwine" and "Irvine" was a
carpenter. In the Grand Lodge register occurs the note "Gone to New York
to settle."

William Lewis (1784) a printer and publisher who in association with
John Ryan published "The Royal Gazette and Nova Scotia Intelligencer" on
December 18th, 1783. The building in which this first newspaper was published
stands to the north of the Post Office. He was S.W. of the Lodge in 1786.

A Sidelight

An interesting sidelight on the affairs of Hiram Lodge is to be found in the
records of Ancient Lodge No. 230 (Ancients) later No. 288 (Eng.) held in
the Royal Artillery (1st Battalion) stationed in Saint John in 1785 and since
1826, along with two other Military Lodges merged into Union Waterloo
Lodge No. 13 (Eng.).

This Lodge formed at Gibraltar in 1785 consisted of 22 members of which
only six were stationed in Saint John, the others being at Halifax, St. John's
(Newfoundland) Jamaica &c. The Lodge however met regularly each month
though few in numbers, and the presence of visitors from Hiram Lodge is
always recorded. Lodge No. 230 had trouble with the Grand Lodge at Halifax
through refusing to recognize its authority while in its jurisdiction, by initiating
a candidate which Hiram Lodge claimed as its property. Harmonious relations
however continued with the local Lodge. Lodge No. 230 remained in Saint
John until January 1789.

Last Years

We now come to the closing Chapters in the story of Hiram Lodge. The
unfortunate troubles which eventually brought about the extinction of the
Lodge had their origin during the Mastership of John Sinnott.

John Sinnott (1784) the first initiate in 1784, Secretary for several
years, and W.M. in 1792 and 1793, was born in Ballybreunan, County Wexford,
Ireland, and was educated in Dublin. When a young man he came to Halifax
and from thence to Saint John about 1783. He was one of the founders of St.
John's Lodge in 1802, received the R.A. degree, April 10, 1805, in Carleton
Chapter. He died June 12, 1828, aged 69 years, and was interred in the old
burial ground, near King Square.

He was first a school teacher and later a clerk in the office of Samuel
Hake, also a member of the Lodge and commissary of stores of war and
provisions. Unfortunately for his reputation as a Mason, and as an official

—938—

of the British government, Hake had for sometime previously to 1793 been
secreting or misappropriating stores and provisions. His shortages were
discovered by a cooper in the employ of the department and reported to the
military authorities. A court of enquiry was ordered and Sinnott who was
aware of the embezzlement, was notified to attend and give evidence. Previous
to the hearing, Hake obtained the appointment by the Lodge of a Committee
of brethren to bring influence upon Sinnott to keep him away from the Court
and, if possible, dissuade him from giving testimony. Sinnott, while acknowl-
edging that his personal feelings prompted him not to appear as a witness,
told the committee that it was impossible for him to disobey the summons,
thereby himself incurring the risk of being courtmartialled and of losing his
position and thereby depriving his family and himself of support. At the
hearing of the charges, Sinnott gave evidence, but no action was taken as a
result of the enquiry. Later two charges were laid against Hake, one of making
a false return, the other of "misapplying the King's Provisions." Both were
proved on evidence other than Sinnott's testimony, with the result that Hake
was adjudged guilty of fraud and embezzlement and dismissed from the service.

He then took his case to the Lodge charging that Sinnott as a Mason and
as Master of the Lodge, was bound by his Masonic ties to conceal the acts of
a brother Mason, no matter how flagrant their character ; that, instead of
acting a fraternal part, he had betrayed him and had done him a grievous wrong.
By a small majority, the Lodge sided with Hake, and, as a result of con-
siderable ill-feeling, the Lodge by resolution in May 1793, suspended Sinnott,
deposed him from the position of Master and on August 1st, 1793 asked the
Grand Lodge to expel him from Freemasonry, "for the most vile and unprece-
dented violation of every Masonic duty, which has not only been already fatal
in its consequences to an aged, infirm, and deserving brother, but also tends
in every possible degree to become more so to the Craft in general."

Upon this report reaching the Grand Secretary considerable correspon-
dence followed between the Grand Lodge in Halifax, Hiram Lodge and John
Sinnott. The letters of the deposed Master are models of good form, explicit,
well-written, fair and in good temper, and exhibit a becoming and proper
Masonic spirit.

His Memorial concludes with the statement :

"That your Memorialist most humbly conceives that he has by no
means deserved this rigorous treatment from the said Brethren;

"That he has ever been a good Mason, convinced that its Institution
is, next to the Christian Religion, the most perfect the World ever saw, a
blessing to Mankind founded upon Religion, good Conscience and the
soundest Policy.

"That he has ever been strenuous to conform to its most excellent
Rules and Precepts."

He suggests a committee of enquiry into the matter, "that you may get at
the real state of facts and be enabled to do what to Justice (that bright
ornament in Masonry) doth appertain."

—939--

Accompanying his memorial to the Grand Lodge was a letter written
by Capt. Francis M. Dixon, President of the Military Court of Enquiry and
Past Provincial Grand Master of Minorca, verifying the facts stated in the
Memorial and condemning the action of Hiram Lodge as contrary to all the
Rules of Masonry.

"The Lesson I have received as a Mason is Honesty, Truth, Justice
and Secrecy in some cases is necessary, but if called upon by a Court of
Justice to swear to facts, is the Villainy of a man to be screen'd because
he is a Mason? No. God forbid. I hope the Basis of Masonry will
ever stand firm against fraud, deceit, perjury and every other infamous
practice, I fear too ready to be introduced by a Class of low designing
people about this province."

The Grand Lodge took time to consider but eventually in March 1794
appointed Wm. Campbell, D.G.M. a resident of St. John to form a Grand
Lodge committee of enquiry and report his findings. The evidence and de-
positions submitted to this committee were very voluminous and the report
full and exhaustive. Grand Lodge after further consideration (August 8,
1794) resolved that there were not sufficient grounds for passing so severe
a censure on Sinnott, removed the suspension and ordered Hiram Lodge to
restore him to all the rights and privileges which he had previously enjoyed.

Undoubtedly the Lodge had exceeded its powers in arraigning and suspend-
ing its Master. Even if they had such power there was no reason for exercising
it against a member who attended to give evidence in a court of law, under a
summons which he was bound to obey, against a brother who had unfortunately
betrayed/ a public trust. Sinnott was bound by his Masonic engagements
"Cheerfully to conform to every lawful authority and not to palliate or
aggravate the offences of his brethren."

Hiram Lodge, however, holding "That they had just cause to deal with
Sinnott as they did, because they were unwilling to sit with him in Lodge or
to consider him worthy of the privileges and benefits of Masonry" declined to
obey the mandate of Grand Lodge. They were unanimous in their stand, and
intimated that if Grand Lodge was still insistent in their demand, "they with
all due submission to their wisdom will resign the Warrant and pay all dues
thereto belonging."

On March 4th, 1795 Grand Lodge conceiving that the sentiments expressed
were "an open violation of the laws of Masonry and highly derogatory to the
flonor and Dignity" of the Grand Lodge, "Resolved that unless Hiram Lodge,
No. 17 do make such ample apology to this right worshipful body, as may be
to the entire satisfaction thereof, their Warrant to continue no longer in force,
and the same to be reported to all Grand Lodges in communication with us."

Hiram Lodge, instead of apologizing for the impropriety of their conduct
addressed a letter to the Grand Secretary, June 2nd, 1795 setting forth "that
in consequence of having come under the censure of the Grand Lodge, Hiram
Lodge have unanimously agreed to suspend all Masonic labors as a body and
deposited their warrant (in the ark) until the right worshipful the Grand
Lodge shall direct the further disposal of it."

—940—

Grand Lodge (September 2nd, 1795) treated this action on their part,
namely, ceasing work and depositing their warrant in the ark without the
sanction and approbation of Grand Lodge, as "an act highly unconstitutional
and in open violation of the laws of Masonry." The Grand Secretary in
writing January 18th, 1796 to James Hayt, Robert Laidley, William Jennison,
Richard Bonsall, George Symmers, Oliver Bourdett and William Simmonds
"earnestly recommended the Lodge to meet and revoke their objectionable acts
and words, and by an ample apology save themselves from the inevitable
consequences."

The ruling spirits of the Lodge were evidently made of stern and un-
yielding material ; they asserted as their belief, that under any and all circum-
stances, a brother Mason should screen the acts, no matter how unjustifiable,
of another brother, and that this obligation was superior to the peremptory
mandates of civil or military tribunals.

This absurd position, stubbornly held, coupled with their refusal to
apologize, in spite of fraternal advice and counsel, led to final action by Grand
Lodge, and on September 7th, 1796, it unanimously resolved "that the Warrant
of Hiram Lodge No. 17 x x x be forthwith recalled, and that the members
thereof (22 in number) agreeably to the last return transmitted, be expelled
for apostasy."

An edict expelling the following was forthwith issued and sent to all
lodges under the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia and to all the Grand Lodges
of Ancient York Masons :

James Hayt William Jennison
George Symmers William Simmonds
Oliver Bourdett Robert Laidley
Richard Bonsall Thomas Jennings
Charles McPherson William Lorraine
David Beveridge John Tool
Benjamin Burgess Stephen Bourdett
Thomas Featherby George Matthew-
Titus Knapp Robert Moore
Samuel Wiggins Craven Calverley
John Ryan Thomas Mullin

Grand Lodge subsequently agreed to reinstate any of the members "who
would show their disapprobation of the conduct of the Lodge, and under this
ruling several were reinstated.

Undoubtedly mistakes were made but we are inclined to believe they were
mistakes of the head and not of the heart. We must bear in mind that social
conditions as well as conditions in the Craft, the estimate of Masonic obligations,
the code regulating public and private sentiment, and the scant knowledge of
constitutional Masonic law, usages and landmarks prevailing in the ranks of the
Craft in those days, were widely different from present day conditions and
circumstances. The brethren of Hiram Lodge were sincere in their contention,
and believed right and justice were on their side; otherwise they would not
have allowed themselves to suffer the severe penalty of a deprivation of the
rights and privileges of Freemasonry had they not been so influenced.

—941—

MEMBERS

1784

X Rev. John Beardsley, W.M.

X Oliver Bourdett, S.W.

X John Paul, J.W.

X David Melville, Secy.

X Richard Bonsall, Treas. (Merchant)

X Peter G. Waldron, S.D. (Brick layer)

X William Perrino, J.D. (Carpenter)

X Richard Lightfoot, P.M. (Merchant)

X James McNeale Stew. (Tailor)

X James Bell Stew. (Merchant)

X William Lorraine (Stone Cutter)

X David McLure (Stone Cutter)

X Joseph Green (Tailor)

X Edward Erwine (Carpenter)

X William Lewis (Printer)

X Francis Young (Watchmaker)

X John Boggs (Merchant)

X John Kirk (Tavern Keeper)

John Sinnott

John Stoddart
X John Morton (Seaman)

David Beveridge

Daniel Keefe

1785

X David Prentice
X Elias Hardy

Wm. Anderson

James Hayt
X Arthur Maddox
X Capt. Wm. Wattleworth
X James Cuthbert
X Capt. Peter McPherson

Joseph Montgomery

James Conway
X Benjamin Burgess
X Richard Finnemore

Wm. S. Oliver

Wm. Barton

Wm. Ryan

John Pitcher

John Cole
X Thomas Jennings

1785-6

Robt. Hicks •
Patrick Rogers
John Humphreys
Jaleel B. Mumford
John Marshall
John McKee

X affiliated

1787

X Charles Thomas

George Bennison

William Cole

Alexander Morton

Charles McPherson

Edward Barton
X Absalom Holmes
X James McPherson
X Thos. Bowden

John Tool

John Harvey

Samuel Hake

1788

James Goff

Geo. Younghusband

1789

Peter Grimm Jr.

Lawrence Hardwick
X Dr. Azor Betts
X Wm. Campbell
X Oliver Bourdett
X George Bradley
X Robert Laidley

1790

Thos. Majoribanks
X James Piercy
James Sutor

1791

X Wm. Jennison
X John N. Mallory

Geo. Symmers (or Summers)

1792

X Alex. McPherson
X Thos. Hanford Jr.

Henry Wells
X George Matthews

Lushington Goodwin

Thos. Featherby
X John Graham
X Stephen Bourdett
X Jabez Husted

1793

David Fanning
X Wm. Simonds (or Simmons)
Titus Knapp
Robert Moore
Samuel Wiggins
Craven Caverley

1795

John Ryan
Thos. Mullin

—942—

• V4

•

•— >

•

2
"13

•

-4-»

PL.

(rt

b£

I—"

1/3 •-<

be G
O ""

-Si

CQ^

Cfl

John
Thoj

<U O

P^<

o o

i:^ O

o o o

!U (U G C — C

.« .rt r- r- r- r^

5^ o o o o

-a

o
PQ

c
K

t/3
O

C/3 t/3

o o

c75c75

a B

3
C

tn tn

be bCy

£ '5 '5

S B
B B

S'> ^ > o o ^ P g 6 6

<^ fe

•a
O

c/3
C

OJ o3 "^
CO

t/3

£^

-i-»

1 — .

>— 1

-4->

^4->

c/3

C/j

c
c

Grim
Grim

r-"

C -C

-*->

-(-'

1 — >

V V

t/D

i^ ^
P3-0

-G °

opq

'>>

P^O

CX) OO

03 OS

c/3 C/3

o o

PQPQ

03 o3

• -:j:GosGc:o3o3

c/3 C/3 f3

(U — r- OJ <L»

rt O O rt o3

^m^

(X)oooooO(DN(^ONa\ONON

—943—

—944—

4, — ..«.„_.__.„_.._„^.„._..^.._„— ..«..,_.,-_..„_.i_.._.._.„,_..— .^
i^ ^.j

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

No. 51

- BY

•I
fl

• i!

!
I

CAPTAIN THOMPSON WILSON i

I
Captain Thompson Wilson j

and Early Freemasonry in London, Ontario f

■i

R. W. Bro. James J. Talmon, P.S.C.W, C.R.C.O. I

i
i

Read at the 27th meeting, London, Ontario,

November 17, 1959 I

■4i
— *

—945—

Captain Thompson Wilson

BY R. W. BRO. J. J. TALMAN, P.C.S.W., C.R.C.

A century ago the name of Captain Thompson Wilson must have
been well known to the Freemasons of the then extensive London District
(Canada West). They would know him as the second D.D.G.M. in 1857
and again as the fourth in 1859, when the District was reduced to include
Lodges in Essex, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex and Elgin. The northern
Lodges had been removed. Over the years, however, his name has been
forgotten. We are indebted to M. W. Bro. R. V. Harris and the late
R. W. Bro. Ed. Worth of Chatham, Ontario, who, in 1941, collected
information about this early and distinguished Mason, for keeping alive
his memory.

The following information is derived from a great variety of sources,
which will be mentioned as the story unfolds. We are fortunate that the
record is as complete as it is although there are still some gaps.

The booklet Historical Sketch of Richard Coeur de Lion Preceptory
(No. 4) by R. V. Harris, records that :

"Captain Thompson Wilson was born at Penrith, Cumberland, April
12, 1791, a son of a distinguished family in the parish of New Abbey, near
Dumfries, Scotland. His great-uncle was the noted William Paterson,
who conducted the Darien expedition of 1698 and who on his return to
England projected the plan for the Bank of England. Captain Wilson
joined the Royal Artillery in 1810 at the age of nineteen, served throughout
the Peninsular War including Salamanca, in the 5th Regiment (Nor-
thumberland Fusiliers), was present at the battle of Waterloo, and was
later stationed in the West Indies and British Guiana while serving in the
2nd Battalion of the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. The Regiment
was in Canada during the Rebellion of 1837 - 8."

A careful search in the Army Lists failed to show that there ever was
a Captain Thompson Wilson in the British Army. Fortunately, however,
in 1946 a nephew of Mrs. Thompson Wilson bequested his uncle's "swords,
medals and military paraphernalia" to the Library of the University of
Western Ontario. The medals clear up the problem. They are three in
number. They bear out the record of military service. The first issued
by Victoria in 1848 is "To the British Army 1793 - 1814" and carries the
names Toulouse, Nive, Pyrenees, Vittoria. The second is a Waterloo
medal and the third, for long service and good conduct is dated 1837.
But the first two show the name Corporal T. Wilson and Corporal
Thompson Wilson, Royal Artillery Drivers, respectively, while the third
is named T. Wilson, Sergeant Royal Artillery. Clearly, Wilson received
his Commission subsequent to his migration to Canada. Since he became

—946—

MILITARY MEDALS AWARDED TO THOMPSON WILSON

barrack master at Cornwall, Upper Canada, and subsequently at Prescott
and, in 1838, London, and was known as Captain by this time, the com-
mission must have been associated with his Canadian military duties.

In 1911, Mrs. Thompson Wilson was interviewed, at her home on
Maple Street, by the London Free Press. The interview was printed on
January 14. In this Mrs. Wilson, who must have been a very old lady
and also must have married young, confirmed much of the information
given above and added to it. She stated that her husband had been
exactly fifty years in the British Army. For forty-six years, she had
lived in London, which suggests that she had come to Canada in 1865.

—947—

She had met Wilson while visiting relatives at Kilworth near London,
where he had secured a land grant which he subsequently sold. She did
add that during the Rebellion of 1837 - 8, Wilson accompanied Colonel
Askin to Navy Island, where his was the first gun mounted. As a Corporal
driver with seventeen years experience in the Royal Artillery he might
well have done so. On his honeymoon Wilson and his wife visited the
battlefields on which Wilson had fought. He appears to have spoken
French fluently. He was never wounded and to the end of his days, was
conspicuous by his erect carriage as he walked about the streets of
London where he was well known.

According to R. V. Harris and E. Worth who appear to have secured
their information from various obituaries, Wilson was initiated into
Freemasonry in 1816 in Lodge No. 454 (England) in the Fifth Regiment,
then in England. He received his F.C. and M.M. degrees in Lodge 406
(later Argyle Lodge) in the 91st Argyle and Sutherland Regiment in
1817. He was exalted to the Royal Arch degree in Argyle Chapter in the
91st Regiment on September 30, 1818. He was installed as a Knight
Templar on May 20, 1821 in Social Encampment No. 85, at Manchester,
England. He was equally interested in the Scottish Rite branch of Masonry
and attained to the 18° at Woolwich, Kent, in 1861 and to the 33° in
July, 1868.

It was in Canada, however, that his Masonic career flourished. It has
not been possible to find when and of what Lodge Wilson first was a
Master. He was already a Past Master in 1857 when he was one of the
founders of Kilwinning Lodge, No. 32 (later 64), London, but does not
appear on the roll of St. John's No. 20. The list of officers of St.
George's, No. 42, does not appear to be available. One might speculate
this was his Lodge, especially since he became First Principal of St.
George's Chapter in 1854.

John Ross Robertson's great history of Freemasonry has only two
references to Wilson. Both refer to his offer to give free a piece of land
of thirty foot frontage and one hundred foot depth for a Masonic Hall.
The site was to be on that side of his lot fronting on Talbot Street,
behind the property where Mrs. Wilson lived for so many years. Nothing
came of the proposal.

In any event we may be sure that Wilson was a Past Master by
1857 for in that year he is shown as V. W. Bro. Capt. Thompson Wilson,
Grand S.D., in the Proceedings of the second annual communication of
the Grand Lodge of Canada (p. 73). As a Past Master he represented
Kilwinning, No. 32, London. He also held proxies for St. Mark's, Port
Stanley, U.D., (now 94), St. James, St. Marys, U.D., (now 73), and St.
Paul's, Lambeth, U.D., (now 107). He soon moved to a higher rank than
G.S.D. for at the same session the London District members of Grand

—948—

CAPTAIN THOMPSON WILSON. ABOUT 1857

—949—

Lodge nominated him to the Grand Master, M. W. Bro. Mercer Wilson,
as D.D.G.M., of their District, a great area covering practically all Western
Ontario, as his reports show. The early Proceedings do not delimit the
various districts clearly.

Thompson Wilson thus became the second D.D.G.M., of London
District. Another extremely active and prominent Mason, R. W. Bro.
James Daniel was first.

Wilson's reports as D.D.G.M., not only give us a good description
and history of Freemasonry in the London District, a century ago, but
reveal the industriousness of Wilson as a D.D.G.M. One is also struck
by the great difficulties encountered in getting the newly formed Grand
Lodge under way. In addition, all District Deputies seem to have had to
investigate a surprisingly large number of complaints, numbers out of all
proportion to the figures of membership when compared with today.
An explanation, of course, is the confusion inherent in anj' new organization
and the divided jurisdiction. Inevitably conflict, unmasonic it is true,
could or would occur in a community in which two Lodges were working
holding allegiance to different Grand Lodges.

In his first report, printed in the Proceedings of the Third Annual
Communication of Grand Lodge, Wilson wrote :

"17 Aug. 1857. To Amherstburg, to investigate sundry charges pre-
ferred by Thistle Lodge against three brethren for non-payment of
dues, etc.

"18 Aug. Attended Great Western Lodge, Windsor, investigated
a complaint against a member for withholding money belonging to the
Lodge

"24 Aug. To St. Marys to hear the charge of St. James Lodge against
their W. Master, viz. for being one hour absent from Lodge meeting, and
when he did come, rushed past the Tyler without the usual formality, and
entered the Lodge in an uproarious manner highly unbecoming a Mason.
The W. Master had left this country for the United States, but defended
himself by letter, stating that he was detained by business and bad
weather, and that he considered a Lodge was not formed, as four brethren
could not open a Lodge. The W. Master having left the country, it only
remained for me to caution the brethren not to open an entered apprentice
Lodge again with a less number than seven brethren. The Lodge having
neither Master nor P. Master, the work of the Lodge was entirely sus-
pended; therefore the dispensation was returned to the Grand Secretary,
and a new one taken out under another Master, Doctor O'Reilly, late
S.W. On the 26th of October, I returned to St. Marys and installed the
new Master and officers."

—950—

The following months saw Wilson carry out the following list of
duties:

7 Sept., went to Clinton and installed officers of Clinton Lodge.

24 Sept., went to Strathroy, installed officers of Beaver Lodge,
another new Lodge.

23 Jan. 1858, accompanied M.W.G.M. to Delaware. Assisted to
consecrate St. John's Lodge, (now Mount Brydges.)

17 Feb. attended the Committee on Ritual in Hamilton.

8 May, attended Union Committee in Hamilton.

13 May, installed officers of Mount Brydges Lodge, at Mount Brydges,
(ceased 1862.)

11 June, Union Committee, Hamilton.

17 June, St. Mark's Lodge, Port Stanley.

18 June, attended St. Thomas Lodge, St. Thomas.

23 June, assisted M.W.G.M. consecrate Great Western Lodge, Windsor.

By this time he still had two Lodges to visit. One he hoped to visit
before the meeting of Grand Lodge. "The other, at Kincardine" he had
to defer to some other opportunity "it being too far in the backwoods to
reach."

Masonry evidently was flourishing in the London District with five
new Lodges under dispensation. The greatest trouble was ritual. Wilson
suggested the establishment of District Grand Lodges to hold quarterly
meetings. At each meeting the D.D.G.M., might go through the three
degrees to set a standard for the entire Grand Lodge. An alternative, the
employment of paid lecturers, he believed to be out of the question as the
Grand Lodge did not have sufficient funds for the purpose.

Wilson concluded his first report "In performing my masonic duties,
T m.ay remark that in completing this journey [to Grand Lodge] I shall
have travelled over 1,500 miles, at a large expense of time and means;
but this labor has been sweetened by the kind and fraternal welcome
I have everywhere met ..."

In addition to his duties as D.D.G.M., Wilson took an active part
in the work of Grand Lodge. He was present at a special meeting in
Hamilton, May 7 and 8, 1858, to consider union with the Provincial
Grand Lodge, called the Ancient Grand Lodge. On June 11, 1858 he
moved "That R. W. Bro. C. W. Stephens be requested, on behalf of the
Grand Lodge of Canada, to see R. W. Bro. T. D. Harington, and arrange
such a formula as he may find expedient to carry out the desired object
..." This was the key motion which resulted in the union of the two
Grand Lodges.

In 1859 Thompson for the second time was chosen D.D.G.M., of
the London District. And once again, thanks to his industry and good

—951—

reporting, we can learn a great deal about the condition of Masonry in
the District at that time. In 1859 the size of the District was reduced to
include Lodges in Essex, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex, and Elgin, according
to the Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Communication.

In his second report as D.D.G.M., published in the Proceedings of the
Fifth Annual Communication, Wilson said that of the eighteen Lodges in his
District he had visited sixteen. He continued: "During these visits, I
exemplified the work as prescribed by Grand Lodge, whenever necessary.
The English ritual, with some trifling difference, is followed by ten Lodges
and the Irish ritual, as they call it, by eight Lodges; but all the Lodges
I have visited, except two, are willing and anxious to adopt the work as
exemplified in Grand Lodge. The two Lodges alluded to are, St. John's,
No. 20, and St. Paul's, No. 107. The W.M. of No. 20 says he has the
M.W. Grand Master's leave to continue their old work, consequently to
such authority I bend in silence; but the majority of No. 107 positively
refuse to adopt the ritual ordered by the Grand Lodge, which I exemplified
as far as opening and closing in the three degrees, and explained to P.M.
Bro. Burch, (the Master not being present) the nature of his obligation,
and what would probably be the result of their treating the laws and
regulations of the Grand Lodge with contumacy; yet Bro. Burch and
five others out of the nine members present, were against adopting the
work, only the Senior and Junior Wardens were in favor of it. Since
the formation of this Lodge, there has always been two parties strongly,
if not violently, opposed to each other. Such a state of things is highly
disreputable to our Order; I therefore recommend that the warrant be
withdrawn, and the contumacious brethren dealt with as this Lodge
may think fit. Lambeth, the place where the Lodge is held, is equally
distant from London and Delaware — six miles each way — so the
brethren who are willing to work in harmony with the regulations of
this Grand Lodge, can join any of the Lodges in either place." [Since
St. Paul's Lodge celebrated its centenary on November 14, 1958, it is
evident that cooler heads prevailed.]

"Mount Brydges Lodge, No. 102, held in Mount Brydges, three
miles from Delaware, is not in a condition to hold its warrant. Its present
Master, Bro. Dutton, is also Master of St. John's Lodge, Delaware, and
is about to retire. The Junior Warden has retired, and the Senior Warden
will not accept the Mastership, as he feels himself incompetent; moreover,
he says he is about to retire, so there is no one eligible to work the Lodge.
A majority of the members seem willing to return the warrant and join
St. John's Lodge, Delaware; but a few think they can carry on, and intend
to apply for a dispensation for some brother, (at present not eligible) to
be Master. Should such be the case, I would recommend that the brother
they may choose be first proven to be capable of correctly working the
three degrees." The Dutton mentioned soon moved to Stratford, where
he became D.D.G.M., of the Huron District.

—952—

In conclusion, Wilson said that once again he had travelled 2,000
miles in carrying out his duties. When we consider the time involved
in travelling that distance, in a year, a century ago, even admitting that
most of the travel was possible by rail, we can realize how industrious
Wilson was.

Wilson acted as D.D.G.M., at a Special Communication convened in
London, September 9, 1859, for the purpose of laying the corner stone
of St. James Church, in connection with the Church of Scotland. He also
was present at the laying of the corner stone of the Crystal Palace,
Hamilton, May 24, 1860. At the age of 69 he presided over a Masonic
Ball in London, December 29, 1862, when the D.D.G.M., could not be
present. He was a founder and also the first W.M. of The Tuscan Lodge,
No. 195, London, in 1868.

In spite of his efforts in Blue Lodge Masonry, this work represented
perhaps one third or even one quarter of his Masonic career.

As has been said earlier, Thompson Wilson reached high office in
Royal Arch Masonry. For information here, we are indebted to the
research of E. Worth and R. V. Harris. In 1854 Wilson affiliated with
St. George's Chapter, No. 895 (Eng.), became its First Principal in
1854, again in 1858 and once again in 1859 when it united with the Grand
Chapter of Canada. We may be sure that he had much to do with the
founding of St. John's Chapter. He served as Grand Superintendent of
the London R.A. District from 1860 to 1864. These duties followed his
election as Grand First Principal of Grand Chapter in 1858. Unfortunately,
it has not been possible to see the Proceedings of the Grand Chapter of
Canada to follow the activity of Thompson Wilson in this body.

A third interest of Thompson Wilson was in Knight Templary. As
has been said he was installed as a Knight Templar on May 20, 1821, in
Social Encampment No. 85, at Manchester, England. Thompson did
much in assisting the Founder of the Templar Order in Canada in the
formation of the First Provincial Grand Conclave of Canada in 1855
although his name actually does not figure extensively in the history
by R. V. Harris. At the Third Annual Assembly of the Provincial Grand
Conclave on July 17, 1857 it was announced that Coeur de Lion Encamp-
ment had been warranted at London, Canada West, with Thompson
Wilson as Eminent Commander under date of May 21, 1857.

In this connection the late H. J. Bennett, Assessment Commissioner of
London, wrote to Professor Fred Landon, Librarian, the University of
Western Ontario, on September 19, 1946. At that time Bennett had been
Registrar of Richard Coeur Preceptory for over twenty-five years and
possessed the only list of members, a copy he had made. The originals
were lost in the burning of the London Masonic Temple at the turn of the
century. He enclosed an extract:

"Opened, May 1857.

"No 1. Thompson Wilson (first Presiding Officer) occupation ex-

—953—

Capt. 5th Regiment . . . Originally a Sir Kt. of Hugh de Payens Preceptory
of Hamilton, (No. 3) Transferred to Preceptory No. 4, London on organi-
zation in 1857."

Wilson served no fewer than ten yearly terms as Presiding Officer,
namely 1857 and each year following, except 1868, until 1871. Indeed he
practically died in that office. In 1857 he was made First Provincial
Grand Captain and in the same year was made First Grand Standard
Bearer of the Grand Encampment of England. He also held the offices
of Provincial Grand Prior, 1861, and in 1866, Past Deputy Provincial
Commander.

Wilson was also interested in the Scottish Rite branch of Masonry
and attained to the 18° at Woolwich, Kent, in 1861. R. V. Harris in his
history of the Supreme Council, tells us that in the Archives of the
Supreme Council of England there is the original petition for the formation
of a Rose Croix Chapter at London, Ont., signed by Thompson Wilson 18°
of Invicta Chapter, England. It is dated April 18, 1868. The first M.W.S.
was to be Wilson. The Statutes and Regulations of the Supreme Council
33° in the brief historical outline at the first of the volume show:

"1868, July 14th. Certificates of 33° from England and Wales were
issued to . . . Thompson Wilson 18°". Four days later, on July 18, Moore
Sovereign Consistory was constituted "in the rooms of St. George's Lodge,
Y.R.F., [York Rite Freemasonry]", London, Ont. One of those present
was Thompson Wilson 33°. The Harris history also shows Capt. Thom-
pson Wilson as Grand Hospitaler.

The Harris account continues:

"Although the minutes in the English Archives make no reference
to the formation of a Rose Croix Chapter at London, Ont., it is a matter
of record that on the same day and immediately after the institution of
the Hamilton Chapter, [July 14, 1868], the officers of that Chapter with
John W. Murton presiding, conferred the degrees from the 4th to the
18th on several Master Masons resident in London, and that a Chapter of
Rose Croix was then instituted by Moore himself under the name of
London Sovereign Chapter Rose Croix with Thompson Wilson as first
M.W.S."

Thus the full Masonic career of Thompson Wilson was rounded out.
Although not one of the best known pioneers in many of the branches
of Freemasonry in Canada, there can be few early brethren who had a
wider interest or worked harder for those interests with which he
concerned himself.

Thompson Wilson died at London on October 20, 1872, in his 81st
year. The death notice announced that the funeral would leave his late
residence, Hitchcock Street, near Talbot, on October 22. Evidently he
was still living behind the lot he had offered as the site for a Masonic
Temple several years before. The same newspaper, the Advertiser, October

—954—

21, 1872, carried orders to the Band of the 7th Regiment to meet at the band
room to attend the funeral. There is no account of the funeral in the subsequent
issue of the Advertiser and no copy of the Free Press of that day has been
preserved. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery, London.

Today, one of the memorials to Thompson Wilson is a stained glass
window in Trinity Church, Blenheim, Ontario. For many years it
stood in the East over the altar but in 1912 was moved to the vestry.
The Chatham Planet, June 25, 1874, printed the following description:

"Over the altar is a very handsome stained glass window with the
beautiful emblem of the Christian degrees of Freemasonry, viz. Knights
of Malta, Rose Croix and 33° Illustrious — In memory of Captain
Thompson Wilson of London, Ontario, by his daughter Mary Theodora.
The late Captain was an exalted officer of three degrees and Past Grand
Z of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons.

"The window was executed by Mr. K. Lewis, Stained Glass Works,
London, and reflects great credit on that firm for it is a lovely window
and it has since been surmounted with an escutcheon of blue ground and
the device of the monogram and the crown of glory in gold."

How the window came to be placed in Blenheim appeared to be a
mystery as the Wilsons had no Blenheim connection. A great niece, Mrs.
H. E. Paull of Morrisburg, Ont., writing in 1934, suggested that the
rector might have been a friend. The rector at Blenheim in 1874 was
the Reverend H. Bartlett. In his 1946 letter, mentioned above, H. J.
Bennett, wrote "I secured many years ago an old photo, which shows
him [Wilson] and Rev. H. Bartlett in full K.T. Regalia, and had it hung
in the anteroom to the Red Room at the Masonic Temple [London],"
It hangs there today. The conclusion is inescapable, Bartlett and Wilson
were friends and the window went to his church.

However, the greatest memorials to Captain Thompson Wilson are the
flourishing Masonic bodies in Western Ontario today.

—955—

—956—

+ , . „_. . 4.

No. 52

■
■

I
I

■

m
m

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

1959

CANADIAN INFLUENCE
ON EARLY MICHIGAN MASONRY

by R. W. Bros. James Fairbairn Smith
and Charles Fey

Read at the Twenty-Seventh meeting of the Association, j
held at London, Ontario, November 17, 1959.

■

m
I ■

I «fci ■» ■■ ■■ ■■ ■» ■« ■■ ■■ ■» 11 ■■—»■«-.»>■ »» ii^^w n «i n^^w n n ^^,A( I

—957—

Canadian Influence On Early Michigan

Masonry

By J. Fairbairn Smith and Charles Fey

While Masonry cannot claim that it came with Cadillac to Michigan, in
1701, the Fraternity's influence can definitely be traced, in a wilderness which
was to become a center of world industry, back nearly 195 years. Moreover,
individual Masons were present and gave of their talents many years prior to
that time.

Indeed, individual Masons were to be found in America as early as 1682
when John Skene, Master Mason of Aberdeen Lodge No. 1 Tter) of Scotland
came to New Jersey. Masonry as an organized body did not, however, make
itself felt until 1729.

The Masonic historians of by gone years, including Dr. Foster Pratt,
A. G. Pitts, John C. Barker, Charles T. McClenachan, John Ross Robertson,
and John Lane have, of course, added their portion to our scanty store of
knowledge. In this particular connection, it has caused considerable aggra-
vation among modern historians to note that very few of them agree in par-
ticulars presented by them and we fear that a great portion of their "infor-
mation" was largely conjecture.

Oldest West of Alleghenies

Detroit is the oldest American center of Masonic activity west of the
Allegheny Mountains and, moreover, a lodge began to function just a scant
thirty years after the establishment of the first lodge on this continent.

The first period of Detroit Masonic Activity began in 1764 when Lodge
No. 1 was warranted. Individual Masons such as Major Robert Rogers, noted
ranger and a member of St. John's Lodge of Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
and the famous Major Henry Gladwin, first British Commandant, were on the
scene as early as 1760 and it has long been suspected that French Masons
were in the Territory long before that for Belestre, the last French Comman-
dant, was listed as a Mason (joining member) by St. Peter's Lodge No. 4 of
Montreal.

This period might be termed the Mystery Era of 1764 to 1794 and a story
of unbelievable Masonic activity is slowly beginning to unfold. We are now
reasonably sure that, due to continually changing British military personnel,
perhaps a dozen or more ambulatory lodges were active in the area and it is
even probable that four lodges were functioning simultaneously in Detroit
in 1772 and 1773.

—958—

British Army Brings Masonry

A perusal of the known facts make it plain that the British Army, which
took possession of Detroit from the French in 1763, was the instrument which
brought Masonrj- to Michigan and administered to the Craft's needs during
the first thirty year period of 1764 to 1794.

In 1764, a short time after the British took possession of Detroit, the
first lodge was born and it is surely lamentable that, after the lapse of one
hundred ninety-five years, little or nothing is known by Michigan Masons of
the lodge that mothered our ancient and honorable Fraternity in this great
and vast territory.

Founded By Christie

This lodge was founded by Lieutenant John Christie of the 2nd Battalion,
60th Royal American Foot Regiment, April 11, 1764, under Warrant issued
by George Harison, Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge
of New York, acting by authority of the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns
circa 1717).

The Warrant, in its original form, is now in the possession of Zion Lodge
No. 1 of Detroit. This Warrant was, according to Lane, designated as Number
7 Provincial and appeared in the 1773 list of the Grand Lodge of England as
Number 448. We now know, however, that Lane's contention was incorrect
as we will hereafter prove.

We are now sure that this lodge, after the evacuation of Christie and his
2nd Battalion, continued to function for more than two decades under the
leadership of civilians.

By aid of the British War Office and sundry other sources, wc have
been able to clothe Lieutenant Christie with flesh and blood, subject to the
faults and errors of human kind but, at all times, imbued with a confident
belief in humanity's need of the principles and tenets of Freemasonry.

To the end of his days, Christie was loyal to the British Crown and the
fundamentals of the Craft. He died in June 1782 and lies buried on Hampstead
Hill, just outside the walls of the churchyard of St. Philip's Church, Charleston,
South Carolina. The funeral was conducted from St. Philip's August 10, 1782.

Fleming Master

Following Christie's transfer. Lodge No. 1 at Detroit continued to work
and Sampson Fleming, first Senior Warden, succeeded as Worshipful Master.
Proof of this is found in a certificate issued to Thomas Robison, August 18,
1767 by Union Lodge of Detroit, No. 1, of Free and Accepted Masonry
dedicated to St. John of the register of New York.

Captain Robison, in whose favor the certificate was made, was buried in
Kingston, Ontario. March 29, 1806. Upon his death, he left the sum of $100,000
to his family.

A letter written by James Edgar, in the archives of the Grand Lodge of
Pennsylvania, establishes that at least one other person served Lodge No. 1

—959—

as Master. This letter is dated March 11, 1805, and is addressed to Jonathan
Byard Smyth, then Grand Master of Masons in the Keystone State, and seeks
to charter a lodge at Kaskaskia, Illinois.

Arundel Listed As Master

In part it says, "William Arundel is an acquaintance made on my arrival
in this country and has been Master of a lodge at Detroit known as Union
Lodge." Arundel was made a Mason, March 13, 1777, in St. Andrew's Lodge
No. 2 of Quebec and entered into a business partnership with James May of
Detroit July 23, 1783, and it's more than probable he was Master in 1783 or
1784.

Comment should here be made on the name Union — the original Warrant
of 1764 simply stated Lodge No, 1 at Detroit and left the choice of name up to
the founding brethren, which was a common practice of the time. Different
authorities have contended that the lodge was variously named Zion, Union,
Harmony, or Unity. At this point, we are sure of the Union denomination
for many reasons, not the least of which are the Robison certificate and the
Edgar letter.

Union No. 1 At Detroit In Canada

As if to further establish the name, a Union Lodge apparently reported
on October 10, 1777, to the Grand Lodge in London, England, and sent a
generous gift of 10 guineas and in return received the grateful thanks and
eloquent adulations of the Grand Lodge

These expressions were conveyed by Grand Secretary J. Heseltinc who
in a letter dated April 14, 1778, "To the R. W. Master and the rest of the
Officers and Brethren of Union Lodge of Freemasons No. 1 at Detroit in
Canada," said :

"I beg leave to assure you that your letter (which was read in Grand
Lodge) was received with every possible mark of respect and I was thereupon
desired not only to return you the particular thanks of the Grand Lodge for
the donation of 10 guineas, but also to assure you that it affords us a singular
pleasure to preserve a regular correspondence with gentlemen and Brethren
whose zeal does so much honour to the Society."

The letter also informed the lodge that it would, because of its location,
come under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec. As a
matter of fact, the bearer of the letter was Thomas Aylwin, Esq., Deputy
Provincial Grand Master of Quebec.

It is stated that the meetings of the first lodge were held in the old block
house. The room was poorly lighted by the yellow sunshine which struggled
to seep in through its small windows.

There were no luxurious seats and richly carpeted floors, no mural
decorations, nor expensive organ. Our pioneer brethren improvised such
crude, scanty furniture as was necessary to the proper functioning of the lodge.

—960—

Discover Letter

In a letter discovered recently in the Burton Collection of the Detroit
Public Library, and written by George Meldrum, who was then a resident
at Michilimackinac, we believe that mention by inference of the first lodge
was made.

The recently discovered Meldrum letter was written to Thomas Williams
of Detroit on June 16, 1782, and in it he states: "But I am sorry to find our
little usually amicable body to be so much altered, but I think I saw some
appearances of that before I left the place for money is the root of all evil.
I hope that Brother Anthon is not any of those or then he is greatly changed."

Craft Spreads

As we follow the paths by which Masonry wended its way through what
was then the Michigan Territory and which was, at that time, a part of Canada,
we must realize that Detroit was an important military post far beyond the
frontier of civilization ; and as we contemplate the situation, we must become
acutely aware that the rapid spread of Masonry was surely accomplished by,
and in the wake of, the British Army.

In 1772, there were at least three lodges functioning at Detroit: Lodge
No. 1 and in addition two Irish Lodges, No. 299 and No. 378, held by authority
of Irish Military warrants issued to Masons of the 10th Regiment then stationed
at Detroit.

Wc are made aware of this fact by a letter to the "Brethren Freemasons
of the 10th Reg't of Foot, etc., at Detroit", written by James Thompson,
Provincial Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec, inform-
ing them that a Frenchman, Brother Philip Dejean, member of Lodge No. 1,
had secured Warrant No. 11 on the Quebec role to open a lodge at Detroit
provided any three (or more) Master Masons, members of the Irish Lodges,
would install him and his officers.

There is no proof that the lodge was actually opened but, if it was, four
lodges would then have been functioning simultaneously at Detroit in 1773.

Two Military Lodges

Irish Military Lodge No. 299 was warranted August 3, 1756, and the
grantees were Richard Withers, Lieutenant John Luke, Sergeant Robert
McCutchin, and six others. It was in America from 1767 to 1778 and in
Detroit from 1771 to 1775. This lodge registered 54 new members with the
Grand Lodge of Ireland up to 1803. The Warrant was cancelled in 1818.

No. 378 (I.e.) received its Warrant November 3, 176L and the grantees
were Thoms Grubb,, John Hutton, and Thomas Milligan. Twenty-seven new
members were registered up to 1765. The Warrant was cancelled in 1815.

Dejean refers to Lodge No. 1 as the "Merchants' Lodge", undoubtedly
to distinguish it from the Irish Military Lodges.

— %1—

Found in Quebec's Archives

A letter now in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Quebec, written by
Philip Dejean to James Thompson, Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand
Lodge of Quebec (Moderns), dated December 24, 1772, bemoans the fact that
he could get neither of the Irish Lodges to perform the ceremony because of a
lack of approval from Lodge No. 1 at Detroit.

We will allow Dejean's letter to tell the whole tragic story, a story
which depicts most graphically man's ceaseless effort to outmaneuver his
fellows at no matter what the cost.

The DeJean Letter

"Sir:

"You will, no doubt, have understood that during my stay at Quebec, upon
your recommendation, I obtained a Warrant to open a French Lodge but, on
my arrival here, the Merchants' Lodge (No. 1 of New York) did not approve
of it, saying they had complaints against me both to their own Grand Master
and that of the Province of Quebec.

"They sent for the sergeant major of the 10th Regiment, who has a
dispensation from Lodge No. 299, and showed him all the accusations they
had against me and the next day he acc;uainted me with their deliberations
which were that I should not open the Lodge till these differences were settled.
I demanded a Lodge of emergency where all our old grievances were brought
upon the Tapis (the greater part of which had been discussed before). I repre-
sented them that though it was true on some occasions I had been wrong, yet,
they ought to observe that those particular difficulties had nothing to do with
the Lodge. However, though it seemed to me I had adjusted the whole matter,
and that all was pardoned, they only told me I could no longer be a member
of their Lodge because, according to their By-Laws, I had committed three
offenses : the first was my having quitted the Lodge abruptly desiring that
my name be erased from their books ; the second of having listened at the
windows (a report which they had from a woman, the vilest tattler in the
world) ; the third having always been discontented and complaining that they
had not elected me into any office ; but that, nevertheless, they would receive
me as a visitor as often as I should think proper. I asked them if they would
do me the honor of a visit when my Lodge should be opened. They answered
me no, saying I was not capable of being Master of a Lodge, being too subject
to passion and, someday, I should send my Lodge to the right-about I laughed
at their absurdity. To satisfy them, I offered to be judged by all Master
Masons in the 10th Regiment and, if they should find me unworthy of being
Master of a Lodge, I would return my Warrant. This they would not agree
to. I then proposed to keep my Warrant for a year and if, during that time,
they could impute anything to me contrary to the Constitutions I consented
never more to speak of a Lodge. This they also refused which proves to me
that it is nothing but jealousy, or pique, that I did not on coming down
acquaint them of my intention to apply for a Warrant. The Master of Lodge
No. 378 was willing to install me but the sergeant major would not, saying
that the Grand Lodge ought to be informed of the whole transaction.

— %2—

"The gentleman whom I had chosen for senior warden is at present master
of their Lodge. He has denied, in the Lodge, that ever he employed me to
apply for a Warrant but the junior warden maintains the contrary and said
he would join me on his return from his winter quarters.

"The sergeant major who has been called to the enquiry into my offenses
declares that he has seen nothing that can tarnish the character of a Freemason ;
therefore, I beg you will be pleased to order them to put me in possession of
my office, seeing that the complaints they have against me are not worth the
trouble of being brought to the light.

"Be pleased to favor me with an answer by the way of Albany and direct
your letter under cover to Messrs' Phyn and Ellice, Merchants.

"I have the honor to be, Sir, your most humble and obedient servant.

P. Dejean."
Detroit, December 24th, 1772

"Excuse my not writing in English."

Even though the Dejean Lodge may never have been actually active it,
nevertheless, has an unusual place in recorded Masonic History. Indeed, this
is the Lodge to which the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns), in 1773,
awarded Warrant No. 448.

In the renumbering of 1780, it became 355; in 1781, No. 356; and in 1792,
No. 289. Moreover, it was not erased from the English Register until 1813,
when the Moderns and Ancients united. This regardless of the fact that the
lodge never really existed.

Since 1773, the No. 448 and renumberings which followed, the above
numbers have been attached to Lodge No. 1 at Detroit by every Masonic
Historian and it was not until 1954 that the contention became suspect and
our new chain of evidence led us to the following opinions :

(a) That Lodge No. 1 at Detroit, founded by Lieutenant John Christie
of the 60th Royal American Regiment April 27, 1764, possessed only a
Provincial Warrant from the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York and that
the Lodge never received the whole number 448 from the Grand Lodge of
England as Lane claimed in his Masonic Records.

(b) That the Schismatic Lodge created by the dissenting French notary
Philip Dejean is actually the lodge which should be entitled to the English
No. 448.

(c) That the Dejean charter was actually issued in 1772 and a fee of
Three Guineas was paid for it to the Grand Lodge of England.

Typescript evidence supporting these conclusions was recently made
available by A. J. B. Milborne, Librarian of the Grand Lodge of Quebec.
The original document is to be found in the Letter Book of James Thompson,
Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec, which is one of
the valuable possessions of the present Grand Lodge of that Province.

—963—

The document in question is a letter sent October 13, 1772, to the Grand
Lodge of England over the signatures of a special Committee of four worthy
Quebec Masons, including Grand Secretary Thompson. The letter follows :

Quebec, 13th Octr. 1772.
"Brother Grand Secretary,

"By Order of Last Quarterly Communication we are to acknowledge
the Receipt of your favours of the 11th June last, and in the name of the
Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec to congratulate you on the worthy Choice
of our Right Honble and Right Worshipful Brother Lord Petre to preside
over the Craft, by whose Wise and Prudent Administration we hope the
Ancient Cement of Masonry will be increas'd and strengthen'd. We also desire
you will accept our Sincere thanks for your Fraternal care and attention to
the Welfare of the Lodges here, which we beg you will continue.

"We have nothing particular to acquaint you of but that two Irish Lodges
held in the 10th Regiment of Foot, who put themselves under our Direction
during their Residence here, are gone into cantonments in the back settlements,
but still desire to Continue under it as before. And that Brothers Philip
Dejean, Medar Gamelin, Pierre Baron, and several other Gentlemen at
Detroit, have besought the Right W, Provincial Grand Master, to grant them
a Warrant to hold a Lodge at Detroit, which has been Complied with ; and
we send you by our Worthy Brother Lieut. John Marr the sum of Three
Guineas for the Constitution fees of said Lodge, and two guineas towards the
Great Fund of Charity, which you will be pleased to Enter as Coming from the
Lodges in the Province of Quebec.

"We have the honour to be &c. &c.

J. Aitken
Pr. Mills
Heny. Crawford
Jas. Thompson
The Committee

"Copy taken from James Thompson's Letter Book in the archives of the G. L.
Quebec." — A. J. B. Milborne.

The text of the letter clarifies forever the mystery of why a lodge at
Detroit did not appear in the lists of the Grand Lodge of England until 1773.
Those who are familiar with Lane's Masonic Records will remember that the
list declares :

"Lodge No. 1 at Detroit — date of warrant April 24, (should be 27),
1764."

Lane then adds a further note :

"Not in list until 1773 and then designated 'Lodge at Detroit in Canada',
with date 1773."

—964—

It is now definitely obvious that the Lane Record could in no way have
had any reference to Lodge No. 1 organized April 27, 1764, and we base this
*:onclusion upon two fairly obvious reasons :

(1) Most Provincial Grand Masters or their Grand Secretaries
were in the habit of making immediate reports to the Grand Lodge of
England of the warranting of all new Lodges. However, only one of the
Lodges organized by the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York, and that
was the first one, was ever given a number by the Grand Lodge of England
and it is quite reasonable to assume that Harison, who was then Provincial
Grand Master, would make no effort to register with the Grand Lodge
of England a small inconsequential Lodge organized in the backwoods
at Detroit when he had failed to register others which were, so to speak,
within the close orbit of his own daily activities.

(2) By 1774, the Michigan Territory had been placed under the
direction of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec. This Grand Lodge,
however, in 1772 reports the founding of a lodge in Detroit and registers
it with the Grand Lodge of England and in proper sequence No. 448 was
unquestionably awarded to it. If Lodge No. 1 had been registered properly
in 1764 it would have borne No. 312.

"Harmony Lodge"

A fifth lodge comes to our attention in 1777 when, on September 6 of that
year, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec notified the "Brethren of
Harmony Lodge, Detroit" that, because of an act of the British Legislature
making Detroit part of Canada, "You will please, as is your duty, to correspond
and look upon us as your Provincial Grand Lodge."

The Quebec letter to this mystery lodge is as follows :

Quebec, 6th Septr 1777.

"R. W. & W. Brethren of the Harmony Lodge, Detroit,

"By act of the British Legislature you are now in this Province, therefore
with pleasure we begin a correspondence that our Duty and Interest prompt
us to.

"You will please us is your Duty to correspond with and look up to us
as your Provincial Grand Lodge. Our Quarterly Communications are the first
Mondays in March, June, Sept'r and Decem'r, the officers names you have
at the foot. We do not think it absolutely necessary for you to have a new
Warrant from us, but if it be your desire you will please send down a copy
of your old Warrant & who your choice of Officers are, and we will send
you a new one free of charge but that of the G(rand) S(ecretary) which
is half a guinea.

"From every new Brother which you make you will receive one dollar
for this Lodge and remit it with detail of the Proceedings of your lodge at
least once a year the sooner in the atum the better as we transmit our actions
to the Grand Lodge of England about this time.

—965—

"We are in a flourishing state here aUho our work was hindered by the
seige & Blockade of the Rebels yet when that was raised we renewed our
vigor and are in the full blossom of Love and Harmony.

"We are Brethren &c. &c.

The Honble John Collins Esq., P.G.M.

Bro. Thos Aylwin Esq., Depy. P.G.M.

Lauch'n Smith, S.G.W.

Fran's Anderson, J.G.W.

Chas. Grant Esq., G.T.

Jas. Thompson, G.S.

John Saul, S.G.D.

Jos. Winter, J.G.D.

John Hill, Grand Sword Bearer

The Rev. Bro. Geo, Henry, Grand Chaplain."

The act of the British Legislature referred to above was known as "The
Quebec Act" which was passed June 22, 1774.

By virtue of this act Detroit for the first time came within the limits of
the civil courts of Great Britain.

A careful survey of all the extant records lead us to the discovery that a
working Officers' Lodge in the First Battalion of the 60th Regiment, bearing
the name "Harmony" but without a local number, was reported to London
in 1766, and we conclude that it had not been warranted by the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Quebec.

The First Battalion of the 60th Regiment, or a detachment of it, was in
Detroit in 1764 or possibly earlier. The Battalion went to Jamaica in 1772
under the command of Colonel Augustine Prevost, and returned to Boston in
1775. Part of the Battalion was assigned to Detroit during the Revolutionary
War.

In reporting this Lodge to London later in the year (1777) and also in
1785, the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec notes that the Lodge was
Warranted by the Provincial Grand Lodge of New York.

We, therefore, come to the only tangible conclusion left, that the Harmony
Lodge which was for a time in Detroit is the one that was with the First
Battalion of the 60th Regiment.

St. John's Canadian Warrant

Strangely enough, the Meldrum letter mentioned previously also gives us
a clue to St. John's Lodge No. 15 which was warranted by the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Quebec in 1782, at Michilimackinac, Mackinac Island, and
issued to members of the 8th Regiment.

—966—

We, again, quote from the Meldrum letter which states as follows:

"And concerning the new lodge I had the pleasure on St. John's Day
(December 27, 1781) to have what brothers I know at my house and then we
talked the matter over some and since that there has been no more talk of it
— for my own opinion was that they had embarked in what they did not
understand and had got some people to sign for the division (regiment) that
was not Masons; this was the situation of Mackana Lodge, so that I need
not say anything more upon the subject."

Met In Officers' Quarters

St. John's Lodge -of Michilimackinac in the English records appears as
constituted November 15, 1784. It was number 465 until 1792 when it became
376 on the English register. It met in one of the rooms of the officers'
quarters which were built in 1780 and tradition says that some of the
meetings were held in the upper part of the old block house of the fort.

We are reasonably certain that a Captain Daniel Robertson, who was a
member of St. Peter's Lodge No. 4, Montreal, was the first Worshipful
Master. Captain Robertson was the commandant of the Post from 1782 to his
death in 1787.

There is a romantic legend concerning the young officer which states that
he was in love with a young and beautiful Indian girl, daughter of a chief.
She had, however, been betrothed to an ugly brave whom her father favored.

Robertson built a summer home on the Island Cliff, overlooking the
shore where, for some time, he and his bride lived undetected until finally
discovered by the scorned Indian lover who murdered the girl during her
husband's absence. At that moment, Robertson returned and a fearful
struggle followed in which Robertson and the Indian slipped over the edge
of the cliff and were dashed to death on the rocks below.

In 1783, which was the time of the treaty of peace made after the revo-
lution between the United States and Britain, we find that relations between
the two governments were seemingly pleasant with one exception. Britain still
persisted in holding possession of, and claiming title to, the Great Lakes
including Michigan.

ZiON Formed By Canada

Thus, on September 7, 1794, when Zion Lodge No. 10 came into existence,
Detroit was still an important British Military Post and it was the Masons
of the 4th Battalion, Royal Artillery who sought and received a warrant
from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada. The records of Zion are fairly
complete from that point on, with the exception of the anti-Masonic blackout
which occurred in 1829 and lasted until 1841.

Unfortunately, those who seek continuity have to admit that the founders
who established Zion No. 10 were new Detroiters and actually had been

— %7—

residents of the city only a few short months. Nor have we yet been able
to establish that any joining member was ever on the roster of a former
Detroit Lodge.

The following is the wording of the Canadian Warrant issued to Zion
No. 10:

"Thomas Ainslee, D. Grand Master : —
Thomas Dodd, S.G.W. John Lynch, J.G.W.

"To all whom it may Concern :

"We, the Right Worshipful Thomas Ainslee, Esq., Collector of his
Majesty's Customs, Lieutenant-Colonel of the British Militia of the city of
Quebec, etc., and Deputy Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable
Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons (according to the old constitution
granted by His Royal Highness Prince Edwin at York, Anno Domini nine
hundred and twenty and six) in Canada and Masonical jurisdiction thereunto
belonging.

"Know ye, by the authority in us vested, by His Royal Highness Prince
Edward, Knight of the Most noble Order of the Garter, and of the Most
Illustrious Order of St. Patrick, Major-General of His Majesty's Forces,
etc., Grand Master in his absence ; that we do hereby authorize and empower
our trusty and well beloved brethren, viz : The Worshipful James Donaldson,
one of our Master Masons ; the Worshipful Edward Bryn, his Senior Warden,
and Worshipful Findly Carrpbell, his Junior Warden, to form and hold a
Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, aforesaid, at or in the City of Detroit,
in Upper Canada, upon the first Monday of every Calendar month, and on all
seasonable times and lawful occasions, and in the said Lodge, (when duly
congregated), to admit and make Free Masons according to the most ancient
and honorable custom of the Royal Craft in all ages and nations throughout
the known world.

"And we do hereby further authorize and empower our said trusty and
well beloved brethren, James Donaldson, Edward Bryn, and Findly Campbell,
(v/ith consent of the members of their Lodge) to nominate, choose and install
their successors, to whom they shall deliver this Warrant, and invest them
with their powers and dignities as Free Masons, etc., and such successors,
etc., etc., etc. Such installations to be upon (or near) every Saint John's
Day, during the continuance of this Lodge, forever : Providing the above
named Brethren and their successors duly conform to the known and estab-
lished Rules and Regulations of the Craft ; paying due respect to us by whom
these presents are granted and to the R. W. Grand Lodge of Canada ; con-
forming to the Laws and Regulations thereof, and preserving a regular and
yearly Communication therewith ; otherwise this Warrant to be of no force
or virtue.

"Given under our hands and the seal of our Grand Lodge, in Quebec,
this seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven
hundred and ninety-four, and in the year of Masonry, five thousand seven
hundred and ninety-four.

James Davidson, Grand Secretary."

—968—

It will be observed that the body of this Warrant gives the Lodge neither
name nor number but it was registered by the Grand Lodge of Canada as "Zion
Lodge No. 10", and its Warrant is so endorsed on its margin.

The first meeting of the Lodge was on December 19, 1794, with the first
minutes reading as follows :

"Zion Lodge, No. 10, under the sanction of the Grand Lodge of
Canada, met in due form at the home of Br. James Donaldson.
"Worshipful Br. Bryn in the Chair.

Br. Donaldson, S.W.

Br. Campbell, J. W.

Br. Johnson, Tyler.

Br. Patterson, Treasurer.

Br. McClintock, Secretary.

"By virtue of Warrant, the Worshipful Br, Bryn opened a Grand Lodge
for the installment of Br. James Donaldson, W.M". of Zion Lodge No. 10,
on the Registry of the Grand Lodge of Canada.

"The W. Br, Donaldson was regularly installed and homaged. Said
Grand Lodge was closed and adjourned to Quebec.

"The Worshipful Master, James Donaldson, called the Craft to order
and opened an Entered Apprentice Lodge, Our Br. Ruland not having the
Ancient Landmarks was put thro' the first degree of Masonry. Petitions were
also read from Joseph Douglas and John Munro, of the Royal Artillery,
recommended by Br. Campbell, praying to become members of the ancient
and honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons.

"The Brethren present agreed to celebrate the festival of St, John's, the
Evangelist's Day, 27 December. The Lodge was closed at Ten o'clock in
Love and Harmony."

It is interesting to note that Bro, Bryn (sometimes spelled Bryne), because
of his former Masonic activity and because he was well known in Quebec,
was given the task of installing the officers of the new lodge.

As a matter of fact, Bryn served as Grand Senior Deacon June 22, 1792,
when his Royal Highness Prince Edward was installed as the Provincial Grand
Master of Quebec.

Bryn was made a Mason in New York July 18, 1781.

At the close of the Revolutionary War he returned to England with his
Battalion (4th Battalion Royal Reg, of Artillery) and at Woolrich, England,
was made a Royal Arch Excellent Mason in a Chapter, and Knight Templar
in an Encampment held under the sanction of Warrant No. 9, E.R.A.Y.M.
(now Albion No. 21, Q.R.).

Bryn served as Worshipful Master in 1789 and is later recorded as a
Past Master presiding at the lodge's first meeting held at Quebec in 1790.

— %9—

The certificates of Bryn's admission as a Royal Arch Mason and a
Knight Templar are, according to the Irish Lodge of Research, in the
possession of Carlow Lodge No. 116 of Carlow, Ireland.

Only two years after the forming of this Lodge, Britain surrendered to
the United States the territory in dispute, her troops now sorely needed in
f^urope were promptly removed from Detroit, Mackinac, and other military
posts in the territory and, in 1796, American troops, unopposed, planted for
the first time the flag of the United States at Detroit.

ZioN Seeks New York Warrant

On September 5, 1803, the subject of obtaining another charter was again
considered. "The Lodge", states the record, "taking into consideration the
situation we are placed in, not only as it respects our distance from the
Grand Lodge of Quebec, but also our residing under another government,
have thought proper upon mature deliberation and reflection to make appli-
cation to the R.W. Grand Lodge of New York, to obtain a renewal of No. 1,
of Detroit, formerly under their sanction, or to obtain a new Warrant from
them ; and to obtain their request, they have appointed their well beloved
Brother John Schieffelin to do and act for them therein, and likewise to
pray that Br. Rob. Abbott be W.M., John Dodemead, S.W., and David Davis,
J.W., and that Bro. Chas. Jewett be appointed to install the officers."

It plainly appears, from this petition, that the members had some infor-
mation relative to the New York Warrant of 1764 but this is not evidence
that the 1764 Warrant had been in Detroit,

The petition appears not to have come before the Grand Lodge of New
York until 1806. At all events, the records of the Grand Lodge are silent
until 1806.

At the meeting of the Grand Lodge of New York, September 3rd, 5806,

"A petition from a number of Brethren at Detroit, at present members
of Zion's Lodge No. 1 (0), under a Warrant from the Grand Lodge of
Quebec, praying for a Warrant from this Grand Lodge and surrendering
their former Warrant, was read and granted."

The Lodge was granted the Number 1, of Detroit.

Although the Charter given to Zion Lodge No. 10, by the Grand Lodge
of New York was dated September 3rd, 1806, the Lodge did not take any
action to change its allegiance until the meeting on June 24, 1807, which was
nearly a year later. The records, on that date, close with the following :

"The Master Masons' Lodge was then closed and an Entered
Apprentice opened. The Entered Apprentice Lodge was then closed as
usual, in perfect love and harmony, and stands closed forever by order
of the Worshipful Master and Brethren."

Canadian Lodge Confers Royal Arch

In passing, it is interesting to note that several of Zion's minutes pertain
to the influence of local Canadian Masonry.

—970—

Under date of 7th February, 1803, Zion's minutes declare: "Brother
(James) McDonnell requested a recommendation from our lodge to the Royal
Arch Lodge at Amherstburg wishing to be raised to that degree, agreed to."

Turning to page 815 of Volume 1 of J. Ross Robertson's History of Free-
masonry in Canada, we find this comment : "There is no record extant of a
Royal Arch Chapter at Amherstburg in 1803 but it is not unlikely that the
chapter was attached to the lodge and that, under its Warrant, it was em-
powered, as in the case of No. 6 at Kingston, to confer the Royal Arch
Degree."

There can be no doubt that several early Zion Masons, in addition to
Past Master McDonnell, were also exalted at Amherstburg because we find,
under date December 24, 1806, another Past Master, William McDowell Scott
M.D., requesting Zion to ask the Grand Chapter at Albany for a Warrant to
establish a chapter at Detroit.

Zion's minutes contain many references to Adoniram Lodge of Amherst-
burg and, from them, we glean information which shows that Zion was largely
instrumental in helping the brethren of that Canadian town to secure a lodge
charter.

Reorganize Under New York

Twelve days after the meeting of June 24, 1807, Zion again convened and
under date of July 6, 1807, reorganized under the New York charter.

This paper would, of course, be incomplete if it did not mention the fact
that, in 1855, when the Grand Lodge of Canada was established, the Grand
Lodge of Michigan was selected to install the first officers and Michigan is,
also, proud of the fact that, in 1858, when the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch
Masons of Canada, was erected it was the Grand Chapter of Michigan which
officiated during the first installation ceremonies.

—971—

—972—

•I* :

!
I
I
I

m
m

!
I

NO. 53 i

|. CANADIAN

ll MASONIC RESEARCH ,

m
m

I
if

1960 i

■
■

ASSOCIATION

WILLIAM MERCER WILSON !

— by —

W. BRO. CYRIL J. L LAWER

■

Secretary, Wilson Lodge No. 86, C.R.C.O. \ '

• 1

Reed at the 28th meeting of the Association !

at Toronto, May 17, 1960. j

■

I
I

li h

—973—

M. W, BRO. WILLIAM MERCER WILSON

First Grand Master oF the Grand Lodge oF Canada

by W. Bro. Cyril J. L. Lower

Born William Mercer at "Mavisbank," the family home of the Mercers
in Perthshire in the central Highlands of Scotland on the 24th of August,
1813, he was the son of Graeme Mercer, one time British resident of a
province in India.

His parents were financially comfortable but they were not wealthy,
and it was apparently in order that he might inherit his maternal uncle's
sizeable fortune that it was arranged that he should be adopted by Major
Wilson, a bachelor brother of his mother.

This expectation was, however, never realized, and when at the age
of 19 he emigrated to Upper Canada he brought with him rather the
wealth of a liberal education, a fine character, pleasing personality and
compelling industry.

He arrived at Nanticoke, a village on the Lake Erie shore of Haldi-
mand County, in the company of his uncle's family, the Mercers. They
were part of a large colony of ex-soldiers who had fought in the
Napoleonic wars and who, with their families migrated to Canada at this
time.

Many of the immigrants soon came to occupy positions of official
prominence in the province, which is perhaps not surprising since some
at least among them were doubtless comrades of Sir John Colborne, who
had commanded at Waterloo the regiment which had been largely re-
sponsible for the defeat of Napoleon's Old Guard, and who was now
Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada.

In any event, Wilson's abilities were early recognized, for soon after
moving to Simcoe, he received from Sir John in the spring of 1834 a
Commission to hold Courts of Justice in the Talbot District, which
comprised about the same territory as the present County of Norfolk.
The Court over which he presided was known as a Court of Requests. It
was used for the recovery of small debts and had authority in matters
when the sum involved in the contract did not exceed ten pounds.

Simcoe at this time was but a small, unpretentious, backwoods
settlement in a growing, but still remote province of a far flung Empire.
A single stagecoach to Paris was the only method of transportation and
means of communication with the outside world.

—974—

The condition of the roads of the day can be gathered from the
remarks of a traveller who recorded in his diary that his journey (from
York to Hamilton) was made "with great discomfort and pain. The
roads were so rough, and the jolting of the stage so severe, that my whole
frame was shaken, particularly my back. We took twelve hours to travel
fifty miles."

Yet it was here that he made his home and remained until the day of
his death. And having obtained his appointment as Commissioner, it
was here he brought his bride in the autumn of 1834. Jane Brown, on
her mother's side was a direct descendant of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Her
father had served v^'ith distinction under Wellington and afterwards had
settled in Peterborough, where he later became a Colonel in the Canadian
militia. For fifteen years she was to remain devotedly at his side, a
constant help as he plunged eagerly into all manner of activities in his
adopted community.

Meanwhile, dark clouds of unrest were gathering in the political sky
throughout the province. The continued successful opposition of the
Family Compact to the demands of the Reformers for an administration
more responsible to the wishes of the vast majority of the people led
some under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie to seek redress
by extra-constitutional means and to find in the American system of
popular election of executive officers a panacea for the political ills of
the province. Open rebellion flared in December 1837 and although the
rebels were quickly dispersed at Toronto, Mackenzie escaped to the
States. There he gathered about him a force of Canadian rebels and
American sympathizers and set up for a time a provisional government
on Navy Island in the Niagara River from where he continued to harass
the colonial government and lent encouragement to dissident elements
in the western end of the province.

Wilson's own background and that of his wife naturally inclined him
to an interest in military affairs. He early engaged in raising and drilling
a troop of militia cavalry at Simcoe. His foresight stood him in good
stead for when the rebellion broke out he received the rank of Captain
and with his troop engaged in active combat in the Niagara district.
Indeed, he and five of his men engaged in the most exciting adventure of
the skirmishes along the frontier, — the seizure of the rebel ship "Caroline"
at Navy Island, which they sent in flames over the Falls. It was for
his leadership in this affair that Wilson's commander, Colonel Allan
MacNab, was knighted.

But by mid-summer of 1838 the force of the rebellion was spent and
Captain Wilson, who by now had a family of five to support, found
himself without position and with dwindling resources. His faculty of
meeting and acquiring the friendship of men of influence in the province
again stood him in good stead and through the good offices of Sir. Allan
he was appointed Clerk of the Peace and Clerk of the District Court for

—975—

The Late Most Worshipful Bro. William Mercer Wilson

the Talbot District. He soon assumed also the duties of a notary public
and shortly thereafter those of Registrar of the Surrogate Court. Yet
despite this activity he found time during 1839 to spend six months
patrolling with his troops the southern areas of Western Ontario, alert
against the smouldering embers of the Rebellion.

His versatility and ingenuity were further evidenced and his prom-
inence in the community enhanced when, the following year, he imported
the first printing press into Norfolk and founded the "Norfolk Observer,"
the first newspaper to be published in the county. In that same year 1840
in the month of June he presented himself at the door of St. John's Lodge,
Simcoe, a candidate for admission into the light of Freemasonry. Before
the year end he had not only been passed and raised but was Junior
Warden of the Lodge.

His thirst for the truth became unquenchable and Masonry thence-
forth became the dominating interest of his life. Within two years he
was Master of St. John's, an office which he held at intervals for a total
of eleven years.

As a student he was keenly interested in the history, traditions and
symbolism of Masonry as well as its more practical side as exemplified
in the lodge-room. His new-found interest and the hours which he was
now devoting to a study of the law, for he was anxious to be called to

—976—

the Bar that he might have a profession in case his judical appointments
failed him, led him in 1842 to terminate the life of the "Norfolk Observer"
and relinquish the publishing business to a successor.

Nevertheless he continued to acquire further offices, — first, that of
Master Extraordinary and Examiner in Chancery for his District, and
subsequently a Commissioner in the Queen's Bench for taking affidavits.
And when a St. Andrew's Society was formed in Simcoe, he was its
first President.

On a visit to Kingston in 1843 he found a new friend in the highest
official circles in the person of Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe,
who had just entered upon his duties as Governor of the United Province
of Canada and who, Wilson was delighted to discover, had been a close
friend of his father and uncles during a very successful administration in
India.

In the spring of 1848, he was gazetted a Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Third Battalion, Norfolk Militia, and shortly thereafter his legal studies
had advanced to the point where he sat for a preliminary examination at
Osgoode Hall, Toronto and was enrolled as a student by the Law Society
of Upper Canada. By that time also his expanding interests encompassed
the Mechanics' Institute, of which he was President and the Gore Mutual
Fire Insurance Company which had elected him to its directorate.

The following year tragedy overtook his happy family when, following
the birth of their tenth child, his wife, Jane, passed away. He was
naturally grief-stricken that she who had shared cheerfully his early trials
should be taken at the moment when he stood on the very threshold of
such a promising future. It cannot be doubted that the lessons he had
learned in the fraternity enabled him the better to bear his loss, and at
the same time his Masonry was doubtless purified by the inward suffering
he experienced.

As if all his other activities were not lime-consuming enough, Wilson
was also interested in agriculture and in his capacity as President of the
Norfolk Agricultural Society, he represented the Agricultural Association
of Upper Canada at the Great Exhibition in London in 185 L

He had long wished to visit England and also to see again the family
home at Mavisbank. While overseas, he seized the opportunity to visit
lodges in both countries as well as in France and also found time to search
the archives of the Grand Lodge of England, for information on the early
history of his own mother lodge.

His first concern, of course, was to provide a home for his large family
and thus shortly afterwards he entered upon his second marriage, this
time with Susan Grace Codner of Devonshire, England. Then, in his
fortieth year, his persevering endeavour was rewarded and he received his
call as a barrister-at-law. Soon he had a flourishing practice. But service

—977—

and not mercenary gain had been his object in wedding himself to the
law, and thus it was that although always in receipt of an ample income
he was never in possession of much monetary wealth, for he gave most
freely of his resources to every worthy cause and devoted himself par-
ticularly to Masonry, though the practice of his profession suffered in
consequence.

And as he was now about to step onto the provincial Masonic stage,
to play a stirring role in the drama whereby the Craft would be firmly
established in brotherhood, under one strong, united, province-wide Grand
Lodge, we should perhaps pause for a moment to recall briefly, its not
untroubled past, for while several so-called Grand Lodges existed prior
to 1855, they were known as Provincial Grand Lodges since they could
not purport to exercise supreme authority over their respective juris-
dictions, as each operated under warrants granted by one or other of the
Grand Lodges of England or the Grand Lodge of Ireland and were
themselves subject to their control.

When in May of 1792, William Jarvis sailed from England to assume
his duties as Secretary and ?v.egistrar of the Province, he carried v/ith him
a warrant dated March 7th, 1792 from the Athol Grand Lodge of England,
popularly known as the "Ancients," appointing him Provincial Grand
Master of Upper Canada. The first communication of the First Provincial
Grand Lodge was called by him three years later and met in the historic
Freemasons' Hall at Newark, now Niagara-on-the-Lake, where the first
Legislature of the newly-created province had held its assembly on
September 17th, 1792.

Although during the latter years of his life, Jarvis apparently took little
interest in the Order, this Grand Lodge did continue to function until his
death in 1817. In 1797, Jarvis was compelled to move to York, which had
been made the capital instead of Newark, and with him he moved the
Grand Warrant and Grand Jewels. The Niagara district lodges thought
that Niagara should continue to be the capital of the Grand Lodge, even
though the political capital had been moved. The breach between the
Grand Master and the Niagara brethren widened; this coupled with the
waning interest of the Grand Master himself and the intervention of the
War of 1812 combined to bring the Craft to a low ebb in the province.

The second Provincial Grand Lodge was established as a result of
the efforts of Addington Lodge at Bath, which was greatly concerned
about the state of Masonry in Upper Canada. A convention was arranged
to consider what measures should be taken for the re-establishment of a
Grand Lodge. It met at Kingston in August 1817, and in due course a
petition was forwarded to the United Grand Lodge of England, (the
"Ancients" and "Moderns" having settled their differences four years
before) praying that their nomination of Roderick McKay as Grand
Master, be confirmed.

—978—

For five years the convention continued to meet and for five years
the Grand Lodge of England ignored the petition, until finally in 1822
it appointed Simon McGillivray, Provincial Grand Master. He continued
to fill the office until his death in 1840, but v^hile he succeeded in placing
the Craft upon a working basis, he was frequently absent from the country
on business and his deputies failed to rise to the occasion. This lack of
aggressive guidance coupled with the unfortunate publicity given the
Order as a result of the Morgan incident, led to a gradual decline in
Masonic activities.

While efforts were subsequently made by a number of lodges, in the
eastern part of the province to establish a new governing body, it was
not until 1845 that St. Andrew's Lodge at Toronto, made an effort to
revive the Provincial Grand Lodge by petitioning the Grand Lodge of
England to appoint one of St. Andrew's past masters, T. G. Ridout as
Provincial Grand Master. It was only then that Sir Allan MacNab, who
had been initiated in St. Andrew's in 1841, but who was not raised
until 1845, revealed that on two intervening visits overseas he had acquired
warrants both from the Grand Lodge of Scotland and that of England,
appointing him Provincial Grand Master. Ridout agreed to act as his
deputy, and accordingly the Third Provincial Grand Lodge met in
Hamilton on August 9th, 1845, with Sir Allan MacNab presiding. One of
the delegates from St. John's Lodge, Simcoe, was none other than William
Mercer Wilson and upon him was conferred the office of Assistant Grand
Director of Ceremonies.

By 1848 he was Grand Senior Warden and meanwhile had achieved
such proficiency in Capitular Masonry as entitled him to receive in 1847,
the rank of Royal Arch Mason.

While ever loyal to the motherland, a spirit of nationalism was
spreading throughout Canada in the years of the fifties and this awakening
political consciousness naturally was echoed in fraternal organizations as
well. A proposal to petition the Grand Lodge of England for permission
to establish a fully independent Grand Lodge in Canada West was dis-
cussed at the Communication in 1852. The idea continued to gain favour,
and when such a proposal was ruled out of order by the Deputy Grand
Master at the Communication of 1855, many delegates determined privately
to gather at Hamilton later in the year to consider the question.

Delegates from forty-one lodges met on October 10th and with
practical unanimity they voted in favour of establishing the new Grand
Lodge. Wilson headed a committee to prepare a constitution for the
new body and the following day he was elected first Grand Master of the
Grand Lodge of Canada. On November 25th, he was duly installed in the
Masonic Hall at Hamilton, by the Honourable H. T. Backus, Past Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan. His first act as Grand Master
was to write the Grand Lodge of England, explaining the necessity for the

—979—

creation of the new Grand Lodge and urging them to reciprocate the hand
of friendship he extended,

Norfolk Lodge, of which he was also Master, then became the first to
withdraw from the old Provincial Grand Lodge which immediately placed
an interdict on members of its lodges entering Norfolk or the other lodges
which soon followed its suit. Meanwhile the Provincial Grand Lodge,
again petitioned England for independence and even sent a representative
to personally plead its case. Action was urgently required for by the
time of its first annual communication in July of the following year the
new Grand Lodge had attracted thirty-nine affiliates and had been recog-
nized by the Grand Lodge of Ireland and many American Grand Lodges.

When no action was forthcoming, the Provincial Grand Lodge
severed its ties with England at its communication in 1857 and established
the Ancient Grand Lodge of Canada West and elected Sir Allan MacNab
as its first Grand Master.

However, both groups desired a union of their divided brethren and
one of the most vigorous workers in this cause was Bro. W. M. Wilson,
who had successfully retained the friendship of many of the leaders in
the rival movement.

The efforts of the peace-makers were rewarded, when on the night of
July 14th, 1858, in King Solomon's Lodge at the corner of Church and
Colborne Streets in Toronto, the two bodies united into the Grand Lodge
of Canada. The next day in St. Andrew's lodge room William Mercer
Wilson was unanimously chosen first Grand Master. The following year
he was to be re-elected and thus completed a five-year term in this
highest office. Negotiations were carried on with the Grand Lodge of
England and resulted in the Zetland-Wilson Agreement of 1859, whereby
the independent jurisdiction of the new Grand Lodge was recognized as
extending over the whole of the united Province.

The Grand Master launched on his new duties with accustomed zeal,
visiting lodges from Windsor to the Eastern Townships and travelling
extensively in the United States. Almost unbelievably he had also played
a prominent part in the establishment in July of 1857 of the Grand Chapter
of Canada and was chosen its First Grand Principal Z. He also became a
Knight Templar, being installed on February 18th, 1858, in the Richard
Coeur de Lion Encampment in London.

Misfortune had again overtaken him with the death in 1857 of his
second wife, but his personal losses, however much they grieved him,
never lessened his efforts in the public good. In 1858 he was appointed
County Crown Attorney and the following year was chosen Reeve of
Simcoe and re-elected chairman of the Board of Education. In all he
served four terms as Reeve and two years as Warden of Norfolk County.

—980—

Municipal honours at that period were frequently in the nature of a
political gift, but though he was an active worker in the Conservative
party, his winning personality won for him as well the support of leading
Reformers.

He retired as Grand Master in 1860, but was Master of Norfolk Lodge
in 1859 and 1860 and continued his fraternal visitations to lodges both in
Canada and the United States. He was called again to duty as Grand
Master in 1866 and the following year he was accorded the signal honour
of presiding over Grand Lodge during the year of Confederation. The
political union of British North America caused some to suggest one
Grand Lodge for the entire new Dominion. Wilson wisely opposed such
a scheme believing such a union would embrace too wide an expanse of
territory.

In May of 1868, Baron Monck, Governor-General of Canada, appointed
him County Judge of Norfolk County and with his appointment to the
bench Judge Wilson relinquished virtually all his other offices. He took,
however, a leading role in amateur theatricals and with his third wife,
Mary Elizabeth Cronyn, a prominent London widow, made of his home
on Norfolk Street South, the social centre of the community.

In 1872 he was again recalled to labour as Grand Master, with the
thought that only his tact and wisdom could heal the breach, which re-
sulted from the formation in 1869 of the Grand Lodge of Quebec. Many
lodges in Quebec remained loyal to the Grand Lodge of Canada, but as
early as 1870 Wilson had recommended recognition for the new body.
For once his recommendation had been rejected, but the wisdom of his
advice was ultimately recognized and on July 13th, 1874, under his
supervision the Grand Lodge of Canada gave up all its rights in the
Province of Quebec,

The last three years of his life were spent in untiring devotion to
extending ihe influence and strength of Grand Lodge, which necessitated
his almost constant presence at visitations and dedications, throughout his
jurisdiction. In appreciation he was re-elected Grand Master for a tenth
time — a record never since approached. But his unremitting selflessness
probably hastened his death, and on the 16th of January, 1875, at the
age of 62 he was called to continue his labours in the Grand Lodge Above.

Fully a thousand members of the Craft, from all over the Province
and Quebec joined the citizens of Simcoe in paying their last office of
respect at Trinity Church in Simcoe, where the simple service of the
Church of England was read by Rev. E. Grassett, Rural Dean, and then
again at St. John's Cemetery in Woodhouse Township, a few miles south
of the town, where the Masonic service was read by the Deputy Grand

—981—

Master. In 1922 a handsome monument was erected above his last
resting place with the following inscription:

In grateful and loving memory of M. W. Bro. William^
Mercer Wilson, LL.D., first Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of Canada, who during the 10th
year as Grand Master, died 16th, January, A.D. 1875,
aged 62 years, a just and upright m,an.

His name is commemorated in Wilson Ledge No. 86, Toronto,
which he visited on three occasions. On Monday, December 28th, 1857,
he consecrated the Lodge, installed the Worshipful Master, R. W. Bro.
Kivas Tully and invested the officers. On January 19th, 1859 he made
his second visit and on that occasion was accompanied by Bro. Honourable
John A. Macdonald, St. John's Lodge No. 3, Kingston, who later became
Prime Minister of Canada. His last visit was in 1867, when he was
presented with a handsome illuminated address. On September 15th,
1859 he constituted Wilson Lodge No. 113 at Waterford. The Wilson
District, A.F. & A.M. is also named in his honour.

—982—

I ♦ .„.+ j

NO. 54

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

I960

GEORGE CANNING LONGLEY

and his 300 degrees

-by-
M. W. BRO. R. V. HARRIS

Read at the 28th meeting of the Association
at Toronto, May 17, 1960.

■

I
I

■
I

■

!
I

—983—

GEORGE CANNING LONGLEY

by M. W. Bro. R. V. Harris

George Canning Longley was born at Maitland, Ont., on the 29th of
October, 1827, where the greater part of his Hfe was spent. He inherited
considerable landed property from his father, who had become a settler
in Canada, arriving from England in the first decade of the century.

In private life, he was an amiable and affectionate husband and
father, a kind and sincere friend, a retiring student seldom to be found
away from home or absent from his library and beloved books, and
possessing an extensive collection of rare and unique works on all subjects.

In 1880 he was appointed collector of Inland Revenue at Prescott,
and during the last five years of his life resided there.

A rare portrait of him in the writer's possession, taken about 1875,
shows him to be a man of about 50 years, with hair and beard turning
from black to grey, the latter worn in the style of the period, moustache
and side whiskers and square beard, a wide and high forehead, fine
features and deep eyes; a man of undoubted culture and ability.

He passed away at Prescott on February 23, 1885, at the age of 57
years, after a prolonged illness which occasioned much pain and suffering.

Masonic Career — Craft Masonry

He was initiated on May 5, 1852 in Ogdensburg Lodge No. 128 at
Ogdensburg, New York, opposite the Canadian town of Prescott.

He affiliated with Sussex Lodge No. 6, later designated as No. 5,
Brockville.

In February 9, 1857, he organized at Maitland, St. James Lodge
under a dispensation dated January 11, 1857, granted by William Mercer
Wilson, Grand Master, and was its first Master. A warrant (No. 40)
for the Lodge was granted July 29, 1858. In 1859, the number was
changed to No. 74, its present number. The first officers were installed
by William B. Simpson, D.D.G.M., later Grand Master of the Craft,
1864-66. The Lodge removed to Bethel or South Augusta on December
27, 1895.

Longley presided as Master for six years, 1857-62 and served again
as Master in 1871-72-73.

In 1863-64 he served as a Grand Steward of the Grand Lodge.

—984—

Further Activities

From 1870 onward Longley was most active in organizing Masonic
bodies in all branches of the Order, as the following list will show:

(1) St. James Conclave No. 41, Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine,
organized December 8, 1870 by Col. Wm. J. B. McLeod Moore, Chief
Intendant General for Canada. Warrant dated January 31, 1871. Now
No. 4 Canada.

(2) Morton Edwards Lodge No. 24, Royal Ark Mariners under dispen-
sation from Col. Wm. J. B. McLeod Moore, Inspector General for Canada,
March 7, 1871. Warrant April 8, 1871. Name changed to Ararat Premier
Lodge No. 1, May 12, 1872.

(3) Orient Chapter No. 1, Order of the Eastern Star (Adoptive Rite)
organized by George C. Longley, first Patron, warrant November 26,
1871.

(4) On March 8, 1872, Longley organized Gondemar Preceptory Knights
Templar and Raymond Dupuis Priory, Knights of Malta under a dis-
pensation from R. Em. Sir Knight Wm. J. B. McLeod Moore, Grand
Prior, dated January 8, 1872; George C. Longley being the first Eminent
Commander. Longley continued as Preceptor until 1883, acting as
Registrar at the same time, the elected Registrar refusing to cooperate
with the Preceptor, and keeping no records of meetings.

This Preceptory which received a warrant from England, dated
May 3, 1872, was removed to Brockville in April, 1885 and is now known
as Gondemar No. 16.

In 1872 Longley was appointed Grand Director of Ceremonies in
Great Priory with John Dumbrille his associate, Grand Captain of the
Guard.

(5) Khurum Council, No. 5, Royal and Select Masters, organized April

13, 1872 under authority from Daniel Spry, M.P. Grand Master.

(6) Immanuel Tabernacle No. 1, Knight Templar Priests, organized
October 11, 1872 under warrant from Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore,
Grand Priest, dated September 11, 1872.

(7) McLeod Moore Chapter Rose Croix, organized March 15, 1872,
under dispensation dated February 6, 1872, from T. D. Harington repre-
senting C. J. Vigne, 33°, Sovereign Grand Commander for England and
Wales. Under this Chapter all the degrees of the Scottish Rite from the
fourth to the eighteenth were conferred. A warrant was granted May

14, 1873 and following the formation of the Supreme Council in 1874,
a warrant of confirmation was issued dated November 27, 1874 by T. D.
Harington, Sovereign Grand Commander.

(8) In the same year he and his friends, McLeod Moore, T. D.
Harington, Robert Marshall (of Saint John, N.B.) Robert Ramsay, R. G.

—985—

George Canning Longley

Hervey and others petitioned the Supreme Grand Temple of the Primitive
and Original Order of Phremasons in the United States of America to be
constituted "the Supreme Grand Lodge and Temple for the Dominion
of Canada with independent authority, power and jurisdiction over all
Grand Lodges and Temples, and all subordinate Lodges and Temples
empowering them to work the Primitive and Original Rite of Phre-
masonry, otherwise known as the Swedenborgian Rite."

McLeod Moore was named the Supreme Grand Master, T. D.
Harington, Supreme Grand Senior Warden and George Canning Longley,
Supreme Grand Junior Warden,

When this authority was granted May 1, 1872, a warrant dated
December 9, 1873 was granted to Sphynx Lodge and Temple, No. 1, to
confer the three degrees of the Rite at a meeting to be held at Maitland.

(9) This was followed by Salem Commandery No. 1, Novices and
Knights of St. John, the Evangelist in Palestine, warranted December
9th, 1873, with Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore as Grand Commander.

(10) On August 4, 1875, Longley organized Maitland Chapter No. 68
under the Grand Chapter of Canada with twelve members, with himself

—986—

as 1st Principal, to meet on the Thursday nearest the full moon in
March, May, June, September and December. In the following year
Longley became Scribe E serving until 1885.

In 1878 Longley was appointed 1st Assistant Grand Sojourner.

(11) Then we come to Lebanon Tabernacle No. 1, Knights of the Palm-
Tree. The warrant was dated Septetmber I7th, 1875 anad was signed by
Theodore H. Tebbs, 18° Knight of the Grand Cross of Constantine and
Grand Chief K. P. T., Longley was designated Chief of the Tabernacle.

(12) Melchizedek Council No. 1, Order of High Priesthood warranted
October 9th, 1875 by T. D. Harington, Grand High Priest with G. C.
Longley as President of the Council.

(13) Chorazim Convention No. 1. This was constituted by a number
of brethren who were Past Masters of the Craft and also Past First
Principals who claimed the inherent right to confer the following degrees:

"Ark and Dove" and "Masonic Mediterranean Pass" upon Royal
Arch Masons.

"Heroine (and Knights) of Jericho" upon Royal Arch Masons, their
wives, widows, sisters and daughters, and

"Secret Monitor", "Knight of Constantinople" and "Knight of the
Three Kings" upon Master Masons.

G. C. Longley was the Convenor of this Convention.

(14) Craticula Lodge No. 1, Masonic Order of St. Lawrence, under
warrant dated September 16th, 1876 from Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore,
Provincial G.M. for Ontario.

(15) Dominion College No. 1, Rosicrucian Society of Canada, under
warrant dated March 16th, 1877 from Col. W. J. B. McLeod Moore,
11° Supreme Magus for Canada.

These Masonic bodies all established in a village of three hundred
people within six years must have amazed the Masonic world. Less
than twenty men constituted the core of all these bodies; in some Longley
was the Master or presiding officer; in all he was the dominating force.
Each year resulted in promotions for nearly every member.

In the writer's possession is a leaflet issued in 1882, listing thirty
bodies conferring two hundred and eighty-two degrees. And still more
amazing was the announcement that you could have them, all for less
than $190.00 and total annual dues of $6.50 !

All these bodies met quarterly and attracted Masons from far and
near. Convocations were held which extended over two or three days,
when all known degrees, rites, orders and honours were conferred in

—987—

the rooms of St. James Lodge No. 74, with perhaps the exception oi
the Shrine ceremony.

Re- ACTION :

The first assault on this house of cards came through the firm action
of John W. Murton, Deputy of the Scottish Rite for Ontario in 1876.
In his report he said:

"In this little village of about two or three hundred inhabitants
there are twelve bodies of various Masonic Orders, having but few
members and presided over by a few excellent and highly intelligent
Masons; but from the multiplicity of Rites and Orders there (enough for
a large city), it seems to me impossible for any of them to be worked
in the manner required to be done in order to make their ceremonies
impressive or beneficial, and I cannot refrain from saying that I think
the establishment of an extensive system such as the A. & A.S. Rite is,
in an unimportant village of this size, has been a great mistake; for those
who are aware of the amount of money required to be expended, apart-
ments necessary for a proper exemplification of the Ritual, and the
quantity of paraphernalia and fittings requisite, besides the many officers
necessary to do the work of one Body alone, to say nothing of three, it
must be patent at once to them that the idea of the few brethren there,
active, intelligent and talented though they may be, being able to carry
out the requirements of this Rite and the laws of this Council, is simply
absurd. I have not been able to inspect their work, as the M. W.
Sovereign replied to my notice of an intended visit, that his principal
officers being absent he was unable to do any work for my inspection.
The law requiring the 4°, 5°, 13°, 14° and 18° to be worked in extenso,
I fear, in the case of the Maitland Chapter, can never be complied with."

During the next year, no degrees were conferred and in 1877 the
Sovereign Grand Commander reported that the Maitland Lodge of
Perfection and Chapter of Rose Croix had ceased to exist; "their warrant
having been surrendered and made void."

The date of the surrender and cancellation of the warrant was April,
1877, signed by T. D. Harington, S.G.C. and Jno. W. Murton, Sec'y-
General.

Thus far little or no criticism had been directed towards Bro. Longley.
His friends had cooperated in splendid fashion. His next move however
proved to be the beginning of the end.

The loss of the active support of his friends in the Supreme Council
seemed to him to pull the mat from under him and it was not long before
Longley and his friends in Maitland took retaliatory measures.

—988—

Ancient and Primitive Rite:

It seems that in 1876, Longley and his associates had already obtained
from Dr. A. B. Mott, Sovereign Grand Master General for the U.S.A.
of the Ancient and Primitive Rite 33°, several warrants for,

(1) Kemi Rose Croix Chapter No. 75, warrant dated March 16, 1876;

(2) Hermes Mystic Temple No. 1, March 16, 1876; 32°;

(3) Mennon Senate No. 78 of Hermetic Philosophers, 20°;

(4) Mizraim Grand Council of Perfect Pontiffs No. 75, August 1,
1876;

(5) The Sovereign Sanctuary of the Rite for the Dominion of Canada,
December 6, 1877, addressed to George C. Longley, 33°, Alex
Glasford Hervey, 33° and John Dumbrille, 33° being the three
Chief Rulers of the Rite in Canada.

Rite of Mizraim, 90°

They also sought and obtained on August 1, 1876 supreme authority
in Canada over the Rites of Mizraim, 90° and Memphis, 96°, under a
warrant from the Sovereign Sanctuary of Great Britain and Ireland of
which John Yarker 33°, 90°, 96° was Sov. Grand Master General.

With this authority the group issued four warrants all dated August
21, 1876 in the Oriental Rite of Mizraim, 90°,

(1) Emanuel Chapter of Symbolic Masonry No. 1;

(2) Hierosolyma Senate of Philosophic Masonry No. 1;

(3) Shekinah Conclave of Mystical Masonry No. 1 and

(4) Sanhedrin Supreme Council of Kabbalistic Masonry No. 1.

Rite of Memphis, 96°

Along with these warrants of authority they sought and obtained
from the same authority in Great Britain control in Canada of the Supreme
Rite of Memphis 96° and issued to themselves on October 20, 1876 four
warrants as follows:

(1) Osiris College of Masonic Mysteries;

(2) Rameses Areopagus of Exalted Masonry;

(3) Karnak Consistory of Masonic Magi;

(4) Isis Council of Sublime Masters of the Great Work, all of
which were confirmed by the Governing body in Canada, the
Sovereign Sanctuary of Royal and Oriental Freemasonry, 33°,
96°, 90° for the Dominion of Canada and the Province of New-
foundland.

—989-

The Orders and Rites over which the Sovereign Sanctuary claimed
to possess and exercise supreme power and exclusive jurisdiction were:

I. The Supreme Rite of Memphis 96°

II. The Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis 33°

III. The Oriental Rite of Mizraim 90°

IV. The Reformed Egyptian Rite 33°

V. The Primitive and Original Swedenborgian Rite 6°

VI. The Royal and Oriental Order of Sikha and the Sat B'hai 9°

VII. The Capitular Order of High Priesthood 18°

VIII. The Masonic Order of St. Lawrence 1°

IX. The Royal Order of Eire 1°

X. The Grand Council of Allied Degrees 12°

Some of the members of the Scottish Rite were plainly worried at
the rival rite, which boasted more subordinate bodies and a greater
membership than the Scottish Rite could show.

The Deputy for Ontario (J. W. Murton) in his report said:
'T have to report that during the year information came to me
from various sources that it was contemplated by some members of our
Obedience to establish in the City of Toronto and elsewhere, the "Ancient
and Primitive Rite", and further, there appeared in "The Craftsman" a
long descriptive article of the system, comparing it with others, and en-
deavouring to show the identity of several of its degrees with those of
the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite; and still further, there was
inserted in the Toronto Mail newspaper, of the 21st of May, an article
stating that the Rite was being or had been established in that city, and
invited members of the A. & A.S. Rite to visit bodies of their system.

"When matters had arrived at this state, I communicated the infor-
mation to the M. P. Sov. Gr. Com. who issued a circular to all bodies
of our Obedience, warning their members not to take part in this move-
ment, nor have any Masonic intercourse with members of the same in
matters touching any of the degrees of the A. & A.S. Rite, as such inter-
course would be in violation of their obligations in this Rite. This timely
action I think has had the effect of reminding those brethren of their
duties, and since that time I have heard nothing of the A. & P.R. in the
City of Toronto.

"However, this Rite is advertised in a sheet issued in the Village of
Maitland, which sets forth 30 bodies conferring 282 degrees, and I rejoice
to know, and I feel sure the members of this Sup. Council will be pleased
to find, that no bodies of the A. & A.S. Rite figure in this list of degrees
by wholesale.

"I now bring the subject before the Sup. Council, that the question of
dual membership may be fully considered, and a decision arrived at,

—990—

as to whether a member of the A. & A.S. Rite of our Obedience can be
a member also of a system which pretends to confer some of our degrees
and also propagate this system or any other system which confers degrees
of the same name and purporting to be identical with ours."

Longley's salesmanship must have been masterly for he enlisted not
only such leaders as E. B. Butterworth, Rev. Septimus F. Ramsay, Dr.
Robert Ramsay and Dr. Oronyatekha but the great William J. B. McLeod
Moore; Ed. H. Hall, J. B. Tressider, Thomas Ridout, W. G. Storm, J. B.
Trayes, L. H. Henderson, G. M. Rose, Jas. Glanville.

In the Proceedings of the Ancient and Primitive Rite 1881-85, we
find that branches of this Rite existed, if they did not flourish, all over
Ontario and elsewhere as follows:

London (80 members), Orillia (51), Port Rowan (22), Belleville (20),
St. Thomas (12), Toronto (54), Peterboro (13), Almonte (22), Cornwall
(15), Millbrook (6), Rat Portage (Kenora) (4), Brockville (27), Uxbridge
(14), Bradford (22), Ottawa (40), Merrickville (8), Oshawa (14), Maple
(11), Perth (5), Cannington (11), Lindsay (21), Parry Sound (23),
Craigvale (14), Pembroke (13), Cobourg (11), and half a dozen other
places; but none in Hamilton; Winnipeg (17), Montreal (38), Moncton
(21) and in far away Sydney, Australia (26).

Longley and his co-workers, however, were not satisfied with the
situation and determined to have a Scottish Rite of their own to offset
the attraction of the steadily growing Rite under his old friend, Harington.

Longley having returned his warrant to the Supreme Council and
having resigned from the roll of members in obedience to that body, he
considered himself no longer under their control nor in any way bound
to them.

"He felt at liberty to join another body of the Rite in a foreign
jurisdiction; this led to his forming an Independent Supreme Council for
British North America, derived from the old revived "Cerneau" body,
A. & A.S. Rite in the United States, and to his establishing a long-thought
of scheme, a Sovereign Body to embrace all Rites and degrees of the
High Grade system of a common origin." (McLeod Moore, S. G. Priory,
1885).

Having obtained authority from the Cerneau Supreme Council, he
forthwith organized a Supreme Council for Canada and Newfoundland
and on June 19, 1882 issued warrants for the following subordinate bodies:

(1) xA-cacia Lodge of Perfection No. 1;

(2) Palestine Council of Princes of Jerusalem;

(3) Resurgam Chapter of Rose Croix;

(4) Beauseant Council of Kadosh;

(5) St. Lawrence Consistory of S.P.R.S.

—991—

But it was too late, Longley was on his death bed.

During his illness the work was carried on by Dr. S. Ramsay and
Dr. Oronyatekha. Longley was succeeded by Daniel Rose, a Toronto
publisher, but they could do nothing to save the crumbling house of cards.

On February 23, 1885, he passed away and the many Masonic bodies
founded by him at Maitland and elsewhere disintegrated and vanished
almost as rapidly as they had come.

In his allocution before Sovereign Great Priory in 1885, Col. W. J.
B. McLeod Moore, Supreme Grand Master, paid a tribute to Bro.
Longley:

"Fra. George Canning Longley, whose private friendship I enjoyed
for many years, and was fortunate in having the benefit of his extensive
reading, sound judgment and undisputed historical Masonic knowledge,
as one of the Great Prior's Council in this Great Priory of Canada,
departed this life at Prescott, Ont., 23rd February, 1885, and though
not altogether unlocked for, having been a great sufferer and confined
to his room for many months, the sad event has cast a gloom and left
a blank amongst his many private and Masonic friends who knew him best.

"Our lamented Frater was taken away at the comparatively early
age of fifty-seven years.

"In his extensive correspondence on Masonic matters, he was at all
times clear, courteous, and to the point, but caustic and cutting in the
extreme when he felt called upon to administer the lash of disapproval.
He delighted in sharing his store of learning, and took a generous pleasure
in the exaltation of his friends to the honor and distinction of offices in
Masonry, albeit he himself neither coveted or aspired to aught but the
distinction of being thoroughly versed in the deepest mysteries of Masonic
lore."

Many of the original warrants, charters, patents, diplomas, etc.
belonging to the bodies which Longley sponsored are in the possession
of St. James Lodge, South Augusta. A few old certificates and rituals,
trinkets and jewels remain to recall the departed dreams of George
Canning Longley and his 300 degrees.

—992—

[ii 1 ■■ !»».— n^— g»^— H^— it^— ■! 11 II at 11 «i^-.»i^— 1»^— n— n^_gi m t^mm^au—^at^—mf^^t

NO. 55

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH
ASSOCIATION

I960

AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF

FREEMASONRY IN

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (1758-1958)

by
M. W. BRO. ROBERT A. CORDON, P.C.M.

!
I

Read before the 29tli meeting of the Association,

held at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,

on June 21, 1960.

i t II — " " ~ 1 11 ■ ■ I I II II II 1 1

— n- II H

—993—

An Outline History of Freemasonry
in Prince Edward Island since 1758

By M. W. Bro. Robert A. Cordon,
P.G.M. Prince Edward Island.

The introduction to a booklet "Pioneers on the Island," edited by
Mary Brehaut for the Historical Society of Prince Edward Island, begins
with a quotation from Emerson: "There is properly no history, only
biography." She goes on to say "Our history is the biography of our
pioneers. Only memories and scanty records now remain of those people,
of their homes, occupations, joys and sorrows. Those who lived and
worked in those days rest from their labours on some nearby quiet
hillside, in the old cemeteries — near the scenes they loved so well."

So it is with the history of the Craft in Prince Edward Island which
must be gathered from scattered sources, telling all too little of the lives
and motives of a diverse group of pioneers who laid the foundations of
the Masonic Institution in this "Garden of the Gulf."

Let us begin with the soil on which they built, this crescent-shaped
isle, cradled in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia as the rockers and Northumberland Strait the cushion. Its
length about 130 miles, it varies from 3 to 40 miles in width, with a much
indented shoreline. The aborigines called it "Abegweit" — (resting on the
wave.) The French named it "Isle St. Jean" and the English, "St. John's
Island" until 1800 when a bill to change the name to "Prince Edward
Island" (in honor of a distinguished Royal Freemason, Prince Edward,
Duke of Kent) was given Royal assent. A British possession since 1763,
it became politically separate from Nova Scotia in 1769 when a Colonial
Government was established. The Island's future was already set by
Captain Samuel Holland's survey of 1764-66, dividing it into 67 townships
of some 20,000 acres. These were awarded by lot, subject to certain
conditions, to favourites of the Crown in London — and the evils of
absentee landlordship, complicated by failure to fulfil the conditions,
persisted for many years. But that is not part of our Masonic story
which, however, might have been different in another setting.

Masonic Beginnings

Following the capture of Louisbourg in 1758, Lord Rollo was sent
with a force of 500 men to take possession of St. John's Island and
remove the French inhabitants. After three months the expedition
returned to Louisbourg, leaving a garrison behind. Part of this force was
a detachment of Engineers under Captain Spry. Both Lord Rollo and
Captain Spry were Freemasons and it is a tradition that Masons in the
force held Masonic meetings during their stay on the Island.

H.M.S. "Cancealx"

Captain Samuel Holland is reputed to have been a Freemason. Upon
being commissioned as Surveyor-General of the northern area of His

—994—

Majesty's American dominions, including Cape Breton and St. John's
Islands, he was assigned to H.M.S. "Canceaux," an armed ship of 200 tons.
On December 21, 1768, a warrant was granted by the Provincial Grand
Lodge at Quebec for a lodge in this ship, then wintering at Quebec. It was
recorded as No. 224 on the English Register in 1770 and No. 5 on the
Provincial Roll. (Graham's History of Freemasonry in Quebec, p. 40.)
In 1771 the "Canceaux" was reported to the Grand Secretary as "now
in one of the New England Provinces." Bro. Harris has suggested that
Holland's connection with this ship and his friendship with the Duke of
Kent while in Quebec support the assumption of his Craft membership.
His eldest son, John Frederick Holland, was made a Mason in Lodge
241, Quebec, and was later Master of St. John's Lodge, Charlottetown.
He has been claimed to be the first British subject born in the new colony.

American Revolution

When the first Governor, Hon. Walter Patterson, arrived in 1770,
he found only five proprietors and 150 families (approximately 1,000
persons) on the Island. Settlement was slow as groups of families came
from Britain, and many of the immigrants, finding the Island too much
a wilderness, left for greener pastures. The American Revolutionary
War was followed by an influx of Loyalists in response to an offer of land
in 1783. There were Masons among them.

One was Johannes Wilhelmus von der Schmall, as the name appears
in his German Bible. John Small, as he became known, kept a diary
through the war and under date July 10, 1782, wrote "I was made a
brother in the Most Right and Honorable St. John's Lodge in New York."
A Masonic jewel and apron, his Masonic demit and his sword are in
possession of his descendants. A story is that when Governor Fanning
(the first initiate of St. John's Lodge, Charlottetown) visited the Bedeque
area where Small resided, he was interested in meeting a fellow member
of the Craft. He asked Small if he could be of assistance to him. Small
said he would like to exchange a piece of land granted to him at Kelvin
(some miles inland) for some adjoining his home. Some time later he
received a deed of the desired land. Nothing was said about the Kelvin
property.

In November 1775, two American privateers plundered Charlottetown
and carried away the leading members of the Government to General
Washington's headquarters. General Washington released the Island
officials. Fearing another attack, an attempt was made to form a com-
pany of militia to protect the colony, but many of the small number of
men fit to serve had already enlisted in the British Army. The British
Government sent four companies of Provincial Militia from New York
under command of Major Timothy Hierlihy to whom is owed the
occasion of the first recorded history of organized Masonry in the Island
Colonv.

—995—

St. George's Lodge

Quoting from R. V. Harris: "On May 22, 1781, a memorial was
presented to St. John's Lodge No. 211 Halifax, from Bros. Timothy Wm.
Hierlihy, Joseph Osborne and John Clark, of Col. Hierlihy's Independent
Companies, in behalf of themselves and others, praying the assistance of
this Lodge in conjunction with Lodge No. 155 in a Recommendation to
the Right Worshipful the Grand Lodge for obtaining a warrant to form
and hold a Lodge in the said Corps and for a Dispensation until a warrant
might be obtained."

The Dispensation was granted May 29, 1781, authorizing "the for-
mation and holding of a Lodge in said Island or elsewhere travelling, on
the first Thursday of each calendar month."

Original Lodge members numbered 11, including Lt. Col. Hierlihy
and his son, Capt. Timothy William Hierlihy. The father was born in
Ireland in 1734 and migrated to Connecticut in 1753 where in 1776 he
raised a Regiment of which part was ordered to Charlottetown in 1778.
He was made a Mason in Lodge 210, New York, while there during the
v/inter of 1780-81, returning to Charlottetown where he remained until
November of that year, during which period St. George's Lodge was
formed. He went to New York and was promoted Lieut.-Colonel in May
1782 to command Royal Nova Scotia Volunteers with which the Inde-
pendant Companies were combined. When the Regiment was disbanded
in 1783, he was granted 1,600 acres in Antigonish where he died 1797.
Captain Timothy, the eldest son, served in the Independant Companies and
R.N.S. Volunteers. Like his father and a number of others who served
with him, he was granted land at Antigonish in 1783 and was a founder
of Regent Lodge No. 41 there in 1816. He died in 1831.

Seven new members were initiated during 1781, of whom one,
Thomas DesBrisay of a distinguished family, was Lieutenant Governor
of St. John's Island from 1769 to 1784. He remained in Charlottetown
after expiration of his term of office and joined St. John's Lodge in
October 1797. A son. Rev. Theophilus DesBrisay, was rector of Char-
lottetown from 1774 to 1823 and likewise a member of St. John's Lodge.
Two other Charlottetown residents were initiated, James Curtis and
John Clark. The former became an Assistant Judge and the latter was
listed as a "Proprietor." Both affiliated with St. John's Lodge in October
1797. In 1782, John Webster, John Street and Nathaniel Polsom became
members. The record indicates Lodge activity until October 27, 1783,
when at an emergent meeting it was announced that the R.N.S. Volunteer
Regiment would be disbanded. The Lodge was dissolved, the books
and records being deposited with Lodge 211, Halifax, and later in the
archives of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia. A more detailed account
appears in R. V. Harris' history. Bro. Harris has also written an
historical play in two acts depicting circumstances of the organization
of St. George's Lodge. This was presented before our Grand Lodge on
June 22, 1932, by a cast from St. Andrew's Lodge, Montague.

—996—

St. John's Lodge

With the war over and the defending troops departed, the small
colony had one dominant domestic problem — colonization. Settlers
were few and development slow. Quit rents required by the terms of
grant were not paid. There was no money for government. The land
question became the basis of political divisions. In 1797, the House of
Assembly passed a series of resolutions embodied in petitions to the home
government praying that measures be taken to bring the proprietors to
book. A memorial said "If fully settled, the Island could maintain a half
million inhabitants." Yet the total population was under 5,000.

In this period, ho^vever, there was Masonic activity. On September
22, 1790, a letter was written to the R.W. Grand Master of Nova Scotia,
signed by Peter Stewart (Chief Justice), Thomas DesBrisay (Lieutenant
Governor), L. Hayden, Joseph Aplin and William Hillman as follows:

"We have taken the liberty to address you and the Grand Lodge for
a warrant to form a lodge in this Island and being unacquainted with
the form of application (if there is any), our Worthy Brother,
Captain Livingstone, has given his word as a man that he will deliver
this, acquaint you of the circumstances and vouch for those who
have subscribed their names as Antient Master Masons."

A warrant is said to have been authorized but no action was taken upon
it. The letter, however, tells its own story to the imaginative mind.

In 1797, another petition was forwarded and part of a letter by Bro.
E. Nicholson, July 14th, is of interest in this connection:

"You are perfectly acquainted with my degrees in masonry and I
made it my study to brighten myself by visiting every ancient lodge
I could meet with in my excursions and believe I shall be able with
the assistance of the other brethren to establish both a Regular and
Respectful Lodge. I have the Belfast edition of Ahimon Rezon
which you saw at Halifax, with both the Irish and York regulations
and shall thank you to send one of yours if you think it should be
preferable ".

And so St. John's Lodge No. 26 was warranted on October 9, 1797,
when authority was given "The Worshipful Ebenezer Nicholson, Esquire,
one of our Master Masons, the Worshipful William Hillman, Senior
Warden, The Worshipful Robert Lee, his Junior Warden; to form and
hold a Lodge of free and accepted masons aforesaid at the house of
Alexander Richardson or elsewhere in Charlottetown, in the Island of
Saint John, on the second Tuesday in each calendar month." (St. John's
Lodge still meets on this night). (Alexander Richardson was an immi-
grant Schoolmaster who in 1781 received a town lot on which he built
a school at the corner of Queen and Dorchester Streets. Known as the
"Cross Keys," it was rented for a number of years by the Legislature
and Supreme Court).

Among the original members of St. John's Lodge was Alexander
Gordon, M.D., who was known as "Dr. Gordon 42nd Regiment." He
married Governor Pa,tterson's daughter, Margaret. Their youngest

—997—

daughter, also Margaret, was the "Blumine" of Thomas Carlyle's Sartor
Resartus and Reminiscences. After Dr. Gordon's death, two daughters
were sent to an Aunt in Kirkcaldy, Scotland, where the young Carlyle came
as a teacher. He fell in love with the fair Margaret but her Aunt's
ambitions stood in the way. She later married Sir Alexander Bannerman
and as Lady Bannerman, returned to her native Charlottetown when Sir
Alexander was appointed Governor in 1851.

St. John's Lodge continued to be known as No. 26 on the register of
the Athol Provincial Grand Lodge until March 10, 1829, when a Grand
Lodge of England warrant numbered it 833. It became No. 562 in
1832 and 397 in 1863. It was the only Lodge in the Island for 60 years,
except for the years 1827-37, when Sussex Lodge, No. 822, Charlottetown,
was in being. In the annual proceedings of 1925 and 1934 are informative
accounts by the late M.W. Bro. G. W. Wakeford which tell of St. John's
Lodge.

"The Loyal Electors"

An interesting episode in the history of this period of Island history
is related by Prof. D. C. Harvey in a paper on "The Loyal Electors"
read to the Royal Society of Canada. He refers to the trying time
experienced by P.E.L settlers while Charles D. Smith (a brother of
Admiral Sir Sidney) was Lieutenant Governor, from 1813 to 1824. Prof.
Harvey quotes a letter written by Governor Smith to the Colonial Office
on December 11, 1815:

"Previous to my arrival on the Island, there existed a club of a
secret and very improper nature under the title of The Loyal
Electors. During my time this has disappeared but 1 am convinced
has recently revived under the mask of Free Masonry. Circumstances
convince me that all the late elections were concerted in the Lodge
in this Town. — There exists a strong impression on my mind that
Freemasonry is converted to political purposes in Canada and I think
I can trace the chain of connection from thence hither. The factions
of this Colony and those of Nova Scotia clearly understand each other.
How far Freemasonry is made use of I know not, but it may be made
so fit an engine that it can hardly be doubted ".

Prof. Harvey expresses doubt: "An analysis of the membership of
the Assembly of 1820 shows that only five were Freemasons and five were
Loyal Electors who had retained their seats since 1812 — oi the five
Freemasons, only one, Samuel Nelson, was also a Loyal Elector. Conse-
quently, apart from the fact that Freemasons were not allowed to discuss
j)olitics in their meetings, it is obvious that five out of eighteen members
could not have dominated the Assembly had they been so inclined.
Certainly the one Loyal Elector who was also a Freemason could not
have induced the Loyal Electors to wear 'the mask of Freemasonry'."

PruLif Ceke.mo.mes

There is testimony of public recognition of the traditional as^ociation
i>f I'Veemasonry with the art of building in two events during these years
of St. John's history. These were the laying oi corner-stone.>> of two

—998—

public buildings. On August 23, 1830, corner-stone of the new jail was
laid in a Masonic ceremony by P.M. Bro. Thomas Robinson. Then on
May 16, 1843, the Lodge was called to assist His Excellency Sir Henry
Vere Huntley, Lieutenant Governor, in laying the corner-stone of what
is still the historic Provincial Building.

Through the 60 years, settlement progressed. An historical sketch
by John Stewart in 1806 estimated the population as 5,000. In 1827, the
first census showed 23,000, with 2,000 in Charlottetown. In 1841, the
number was 47,000. In 1855, it was 71,496. Charlottetown was incor-
porated in that year. Communications improved and Masons gathered
in the outlying small scattered communities.

Sussex Lodge

In 1827, Bros. B. de St. Croix, P.M. of St. John's Lodge, Samuel
Nelson and others, petitioned the Provincial Grand Master for a warrant
to open a lodge in Charlottetown. St. John's Lodge recommended the
petitioners and Sussex Lodge No. 822 is recorded as constituted August
26, 1827. The warrant was dated August 25, 1828, with Bro. St. Croix
(a medical doctor) as first W.M. In 1837, Sussex Lodge was reported
dormant by the United Grand Lodge of England. The detailed story of
its short life is not in available record.

Victoria Lodge

On November 19, 1857, an informal meeting is said to have been held
at the home of J. W. Morrison, Charlottetown, to consider organizing a
Lodge under the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The motivation is not
indicated but may be surmised. The seven brethren present drafted a
petition to the Scottish Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia for a
dispensation. A letter of dispensation was received, bearing date No-
vember 4, 1857, signed by A. Keith, P.G.M., along with a commission to
Bro. W. T. Parr to install the officers elect. Victoria Lodge, chartered
August 2, 1858, as No. 383 continued on the register of the Grand Lodge
of Scotland until formation of the Grand Lodge of P.E.I.

Like St. John's Lodge, it has its own interesting history, one sidelight
from which is interesting to recall. Being on the Scottish Register, Vic-
toria Lodge's regalia used the dark blue color of that Grand Lodge in
contrast to light blue which was the mark of the Grand Lodge of England.
At the formation of the Grand Lodge of P.E.I. , dark blue was chosen for
Grand Lodge and light blue for the subordinate lodges. Victoria Lodge
demurred and was permitted to wear dark blue. This continued until
1903 when Bro. Benjamin Rogers Jr. presented to Victoria Lodge a
complete set of regalia in light blue and silver, thus restoring uniformity
and resolving an issue.

—999—

Expansion

"The Old Town Road" led from Charlottetown to St. Eleanors,
the capital of Prince County. That it wasn't a modern highway may be
deduced from the report of a visit to St. Eleanors Parish by Bishop
John Inglis who recorded that on the return trip "Mr. Wiggins was over-
turned and Mr. Townsend thrown from his gig on the road to Charlotte-
town in consequence of running against trees."

A member of St. John's Lodge, J. S. de B. Carvell became School-
master in St. Eleanors village. So enthusiastic was he that he would
travel the 42 miles to Charlottetown for Lodge meetings and be back
before the school opened. Then there was a colorful character, Josiah
Grant, stage driver of the Old Town Road. Record of his initiation is not
available but he and Carvell must have collaborated and talked to other
Masons until, on September 28, 1858, St. John's Lodge recommended to
the Grand Lodge of England that a warrant be granted to Bro. Josiah
Grant and others, to organize a Lodge at St. Eleanors. King Hiram Lodge
was accordingly constituted October 4, 1858, and the warrant of confir-
mation was dated June 4, 1860. King Hiram was numbered 1123, with
J. S. de B. Carvell as first W.M. It was re-numbered 821 in 1863 and in
this present year celebrates its centennial.

The year 1860 was eventful in Prince Edward Island. There were
many political problems but a visit by the Prince of Wales overshadowed
these. St. John's, Victoria and King Hiram Lodges united in a loyal
address to His Royal Highness. Perhaps this was a Masonic stimulus;
in any event the brethren of Georgetown, capital of Kings County,
formed themselves into a lodge and were given a warrant as St. George's,
No. 1168, dated May 17, 1861. In 1863 this was re-numbered 886.

While St. Eleanors was the county seat of Prince, the trend of
business was to the growing town of Summerside, recently known as
"The Wharf," the seaport of St. Eleanors. Here shipbuilding was an
important industry and 19 large ships were on the stocks there at one
time in 1860. Commerce developed in step with this industry and the
trade encouraged thereby. Among the men of business were numerous
Masons who desired a lodge in their own community. Thus application
was made and Mount Lebanon Lodge No. 984 was warranted September
2, 1863, and consecrated November 5th that year. Most of the members
came from King Hiram Lodge.

In the same year, and less than one month earlier, Masons west of
St. Eleanors organized a Lodge at Port Hill which was chartered August
21, 1863, as Alexandra No. 983 (consecrated January 28, 1864). A moving
force in the institution of this Lodge was John Yeo, later Senator and in
time the first Grand Master of P.E.I. Its story is contained in the
1938 proceedings of Grand Lodge.

The Summerside Journal on May 17, 1866, reported "Mr. William
V. Warren has placed on the route to Tignish, via the Western Road,

— 1000—

a good conveyance for baggage and passengers." This road led to a
busy little town, Alberton, where in 1867 Zetland Lodge No. 1200 was
chartered on November 6th as a daughter lodge of Alexandra.

In yet another rural community, Tryon, midway between Charlotte-
town and Summerside, by a route south of the Old Town Road, Masons
congregated and True Brothers Lodge No. 1251 was warranted by the
United Grand Lodge of England January 28, 1869.

District Grand Lodge

While the Island enjoyed the status of a separate colony with all
the panoply and expense of colonial government, it was attached Mason-
ically to Nova Scotia and under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Grand
Master (England) Honorable Alexander Keith who acted likewise for the
Grand Lodge of Scotland. In 1861, a move among the lodges was
initiated to memoralize the United Grand Lodge for appointment of Bro.
T. M. Hutchison as Provincial Grand Master. This came to nought but
when Nova Scotia Masons organized the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia
in 1869, the P.E.I. lodges became detached and Island Masons were
lacking a joint channel of communication with the United Grand Lodge
of England or a means of obtaining dispensations. On November 8,

1870, memorials from King Hiram, St. George's and Zetland Lodges were
combined with one from St. John's Lodge recommending the appointment
of Bro. Adam Murray, Past Master of St. John's Lodge as District Grand
Master for Prince Edward Island. Reply was received in a letter from
the Grand Secretary, United Grand Lodge of England, dated 24th January,

1871, and reading:

*T have to acquaint you that the Most M.W. Grand Master has been
pleased to appoint Adam Murray, Esquire, of Charlottetown, District
Grand Master for Prince Edward Island, to whom therefore you will
in future address all communications relating to the Craft, except
the returns of your Lodge, applications for certificates and other
matters specially directed by the Book of Constitutions to be made
to the Grand Secretary and which are to be forwarded to me."

R.W. Bro. Murray appointed W. Bro. P. S. Macgowan as District Grand
Secretary but the District Grand Lodge was not active as such.

The sense of independence was growing among Island Masons and
sentiment ran to promote organization of a sovereign grand lodge after
the pattern of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. These were now
provinces of the new Dominion of Canada since July 1, 1867. Prince
Edward Island had remained outside Confederation although Charlotte-
town was the site of the meeting at which in 1864 initial steps were taken
towards that union. Economic stresses and political pressures which con-
struction of the P.E.I. Railway forced to a crisis brought the Island
into Confederation in 1873. Action to create a Grand Lodge in the new
Island Province was a natural outcome. What matter that the geo-
graphical area was so small, the population so sparse and the constituent
lodges so few! The idea took shape and plans were made.

— 8—
—1001—

George W. Wakeford. p.g.m. (hon.) 1932

Hon. John Yeo. grand master. 1875-89

— 1002—

It is of incidental interest that among the "Fathers of Confederation"
were two members of Victoria Lodge: William Henry Pope and Thos. H.
Haviland, both of whom were initiated on September 19, 1859, passed
on October 29th and raised on November 21st.

Grand Lodge

The late M.W. Bro. G. W. Wakeford has recounted the story of the
formation of Grand Lodge in a paper read at the 50th anniversary cele-
bration in 1925. Bro. Wakeford was at the time a member of St. John's
Ledge and thus had a first hand knowledge of the events recorded. Con-
densing from his account:

"The first meeting called to consider the advisability of organizing
a Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Prince Edward
Island was held at St. John's Hall, Charlottetown, October 31st, 1874.
The oldest Past Master present, W. Bro. John W. Morrison, was elected
Chairman, and W. Bro. P. S. Macgowan acted as Secretary. The
Chairman explained the object of the meeting and spoke of the necessity
for a Grand Lodge in this Island. Several brethren also spoke along the
same line.

It was resolved 'Whereas it is the opinion of the brethren here
assembled that it would conduce to the best interest of our Ancient Order
in this Island if an Independent Grand Lodge for Prince Edward Island
could be constituted.

'Resolved, Therefore, That Bros. Macgowan, McLaren, MacLeod,
Morrison and Large be appointed a committee in order to ascertain what
steps are necessary to the formation of a Grand Lodge, to obtain all the
information regarding the matter possible and to communicate with the
various lodges throughout the Island, requesting them to appoint three
representatives or delegates to attend a meeting to be held at St. John's
Hall on the third Thursday in December next, at 8 o'clock, P.M.; at which
meeting the report of the above named committee will be presented.'

"A meeting was held on December 17th at St. John's Hall, Charlotte-
town. Bro. Macgowan informed the meeting that he had written to
Bro. Charles U. Hanford, St. John, New Brunswick, and submitted a
report received from him on the proceedings of the formation of the
Grand Lodge of New Brunswick. He also reported that he had addressed
a circular-letter to the Lodges in the Island and that he had received replies
from all but one. That though delegates had been appointed, the impass-
able state of the roads had prevented- the attendance at this meeting of any
delegates from the country Lodges.

"The next meeting was held at Charlottetown on Wednesday, the
28th of January, 1875. Six lodges were represented and the following
resolution adopted: —

'That in the opinion of the representatives here assembled, measures
should, with the least possible delay, be taken for the formation of a

—1003—

Grand Lodge for Prince Edward Island, and that this resolution and
the information now obtained be communicated by the representatives to
their respective lodges, and by the Secretary of this meeting to the lodges
from whom no delegates are now present. (Mount Lebanon and
Alexandra).'

"On February 24th, representatives from eight lodges met at
Summerside, Bro. John Yeo, P.M., Alexandra Lodge No. 983, R.E.,
presiding:

It was unanimously voted, 'Whereas the various Lodges of Free and
Accepted Masons of Prince Edward Island, represented at this Convention
by their duly authorized delegates, desire to form a Grand Lodge for
Prince Edward Island.'

'Resolved, That the several members of the said Lodges entitled to
sit in Grand Lodge, or as many of such as can attend, do meet at
Charlottetown, on the 23rd day of June next, and then and there to
proceed to the election of officers; and to the organization of such
Grand Lodge to be known as the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of
Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of Prince Edward Island.'

"A committee was appointed to write to the Grand Lodges of England,
Scotland, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, informing
them of the intention to form said Grand Lodge, and to communicate
with the Grand Masters of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, inviting
them to attend on the 24th day of June for the purpose of installing the
officers of the Grand Lodge.

"Pursuant to the Resolutions passed at Summerside, the represen-
tatives of seven lodges assembled in Convention at St. John's Hall,
Charlottetown, on Wednesday, the 23rd day of June, 1875, at 3 o'clock,
P.M., Bro. John Yeo presiding.

"The following Resolution was submitted and adopted:

"That the representatives now in Convention assembled on behalf
of the Lodges represented by them do hereby declare themselves to be
'The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted
Masons of Prince Edward Island.'

"It was then 'Resolved, That the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of
New Brunswick, so far as the same way be found applicable, be adopted
as the Constitution of the Grand Lodge of Prince Edward Island, except
nevertheless, that all the Officers of Grand Lodge shall be elected.'

"On Thursday, the 24th day of June, 1875, in Victoria Lodge Room,
Water Street, at 10 o'clock, A.M., a Lodge of Master Masons was opened,
the Most Worshipful John V. Ellis, Grand Master of Masons in New
Brunswick, in the East; Most Worshipful Robert T. Clinch. Past Grand
Master of Masons in New Brunswick, as Deputy Grand Master; Very

—1004—

Worshipful Wm. F. Bunting, Grand Secretary of New Brunswick in
the West, and Worshipful G. Hudson Flewelling in the South; and a
large gathering of Masons from all parts of the Island and many visiting
brethren from New Brunswick. The Most Worshipful Brother Ellis
spoke briefly of the object for which the meeting had been called, and
congratulated the Craft in this Island upon the course which they had
taken; and as he had visited the Island for the purpose of installing the
Officers of the New Grand Lodge, it would give him great pleasure to
proceed with the ceremonies. He then appointed Worshipful Brother
T. Nisbet Robertson, Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies of the
Grand Lodge of New Brunswick, as Grand Director of Ceremonies, who
accompanied by several Past Masters retired, and on returning to the
Lodge introduced the Grand Master-elect, Brother the Honorable John
Yeo, the brethren receiving them standing.

"The Grand Master-elect was then duly obligated, invested and
installed and proclaimed Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient,
Free and Accepted Masons of Prince Edward Island, and saluted with
th-e Grand Honors. The Lodge of Master Masons was then closed.

"The Grand Master and his officers then retired, and returned in
procession in Regalia, the brethren receiving them standing. The Grand
Lodge of Prince Edward Island was then opened in ample form, and
dedicated with corn, wine, and oil, in accordance with ancient usage.
The Dedicatory Prayer and Anthem were followed by proclamation from
the East, West, and South. The officers of the Grand Lodge were then
installed, viz: —

R.W. Thomas A. McLean Deputy Grand Master

R.W. John Muirhead Senior Grand Warden

R.W. John A. Matheson Junior Grand Warden

V.W. James D. Mason —. Grand Treasurer

V.W. B. Wilson Higgs Grand Secretary

V.W. J. Herbert Read Grand Chaplain

W. Geo. A. Aitken „.. Senior Grand Deacon

W. A. Newton Large Grand Director of Ceremonies

W. William R. Ellis Assistant Grand Director of Ceremonies

W. Roderick Munro Grand Sword Bearer

W. Geo. R. Montgomery Grand Standard Bearer

W. Hugh A. Ramsay Grand Steward

W. Alex W. S. Smythe Grand Organist

W. Bradford D. Howatt Grand Pursuivant

W. Thomas Sheldon Grand Tyler

—1005—

"The Grand Lodge was then called from Labour to Refreshment
for the purpose of attending Divine Service in St. Paul's Church, and
a procession formed:

Galbraith's Band.
P.E. Island Masons in Lodges, in the following order:

Zetland, True Brothers, Alexandra, Mount Lebanon, King Hiram,

St. George's, Victoria, St. John's.

Royal Arch Chapter.

Band of the 62nd N.B. Militia

Knights Templars of the Encampment of St. John, N.B.

Grand Lodge of P.E. Island.

Barouche,

in which were seated Most Worshipful Grand Master John Yeo,
Most Worshipful Grand Master John V. Ellis, Most Worshipful
Past Grand Master Robert T. Clinch, and Very Worshipful Grand
Chaplain, the Venerable Archdeacon J. Herbert Read.

"The procession then proceeded along Great George Street, to St.
Paul's Church, where an excellent sermon was preached from St. John
7:28, by the Venerable Archdeacon Read.

"On leaving the church, the procession was again formed and passed
along the several streets to Government House. The brethren having
paid their respects to His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Robert
Hodgson, returned to the Lodge room. On passing the Odd Fellows'
Lodge Room, in response to the salute by the flag of the Order, the
Masons cheered heartily.

"In the evening there was a Masonic Banquet in the Market Hall.
Grand Master Yeo presided, supported on his right by Grand Master
John V. Ellis, Grand Chaplain Archdeacon Read, and Past Grand Master
Robert T. Clinch, and on his left by Lieut. Commander Forbes, Past
Master John W. Morrison, and Acting Grand Master of Ceremonies
T. Nisbet Robertson.

"The toast list was extensive, beginning with "The Queen and the
Craft." After other formal patriotic and fraternal toasts, impromptu
and spirited healths followed in succession until at the eighteenth round.
Grand Master Yeo proposed "Our next merry meeting" and the brethren
having sung Auld Lang Syne, departed after having spent a very
pleasant evening." Reference is made to Bro. Wakeford's account for the
full story.

—1006—

The Lodges participating in the formation of the Grand Lodge then
became known as:

St. John's Lodge, No. 1, Charlottetown;
Victoria Lodge, No. 2, Charlottetown;
King Hiram Lodge, No. 3, St. Eleanors;
St. George's Lodge, No. 4, Georgetown;
Alexandra Lodge, No. 5, Port Hill;
Mount Lebanon Lodge, No. 6, Summerside;
Zetland Lodge, No. 7, Alberton;
True Brothers Lodge, No. 8, Tryon.

1875 - 1900

The first annual communication of Grand Lodge was held in Char-
lottetown on February 16, 1876, at 7:00 P.M. Seven lodges were repre-
sented by twenty-nine members.

Among the first business was a petition from William Aitken, D.
Hooper McKinnon and Nathaniel Stramberg and others to charter King
Solomon Lodge U.D. This was granted and on the following day the
committee on credentials reported that officers of King Solomon Lodge
No. 9 were installed during the recess. The charter was surrendered
in 1883 when at the annual communication of Grand Lodge it was
reported that two lodges were enough for the City of Charlottetown.

In his address the Grand Master said "I would suggest to Grand
Lodge the necessity of taking steps for the adoption of uniform ritual
and work in the subordinate lodges". The question of uniform work
has been a live one through the years. Quarterly communications in dif-
ferent parts of the Island were prescribed in the first constitution but were
discontinued after a couple of years when semi-annual meetings were
held for a time. Since then, annual communications have been the vogue.

A resolution of this communication is of interest in setting a standard:

"Whereas intemperance is an evil that afflicts humanity and injures
society and whereas our time-honored and beloved institution has through
its agency and the indiscretion of some of its members suffered from its
influence and whereas we regard the excessive use of alcoholic liquors
as a violation of the principles of Freemasonry and as a sin against God,
the Grand Architect of the Universe, therefore resolved: That this Grand
Lodge records its disapproval of the custom of having intoxicating drinks
at Masonic suppers and festivals."

At the third annual communication in Charlottetown on February
20, 1878, charters were confirmed to Westmorland Lodge No. 10 at
Victoria and Orient Lodge No. 11 at Souris (charters dated August 15,
1877). Westmorland Lodge failed to flourish and was discontinued in
1879.

—1007—

At this meeting it was resolved that because of uncertain travelling
in winter which had already caused numerous delays and disappointments
to many members, the annual communication would henceforth be held
in summer on June 25th.

On June 24, 1878, another Lodge was added to the roll, Mount Zion
No. 12, Kensington.

During the early years, recognition came from other sovereign
Grand Lodges but that of Scotland was delayed. On February 19, 1879.
it was reported that a letter from Scotland extended recognition subject
to certain restrictions "without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland over any lodge who may now or hereafter
choose to adhere to her in that ancient colony of the British Crown."
It was adopted "that this Grand Lodge declines to accept the recognition
of the Grand Lodge of Scotland subject to the restrictions set forth and
that a committee be appointed to draft a reply." In June no reply had
been received but ten years' later the annual proceedings report an
exchange of Grand Representatives with Scotland.

The assistance of the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick to the infant
Grand Lodge was acknowledged at the first annual communication. In
1880, following the disastrous Saint John fire of 1878, three chairs were
presented to the Grand Lodge of New Brunswick and suitably
acknowledged.

That all was not smooth sailing in early years is suggested in
scattered references and discussion reported in proceedings. In 1880 the
Grand Master's address implied differences and dissension among the
members. There were many changes in the Constitution. Hard times
and economic difficulties caused loss of many members who went to more
prosperous climes. As late as 1906, regret was expressed that owing
to exodus from the Province, many true and tried brothers were being
lost to Grand Lodge, two Past Grand Masters among them. More than
once it had been deplored that dispensations were being asked to raise
Masons in emergencies because of their leaving the Province. The
problems of an Island Province were apparent: there was a sense of
isolation in many items. Transportation problems always have been
present in P.E.I. There was repeated reference to bad roads and
weather. The Grand Master reported in 1901:

"Left by train with W. Bro. Harry Watts, Grand Organist, and
visited lodges in the Western capital but by the time we had reached
Bradalbane, our train was snowbound and although wc engaged a
team to drive us through, arrived too late to perform our official
duties."

It is noteworthy that at every communication from 1876 to 1918,
thanks were expressed to the Superintendent of the P.E.I. Railway for
co-operation in facilitating attendance of members at Grand Lodge. The
first such resolution was "The Grand Lodge is under obligation to W.

—1008—

Bro. McKechnie, Superintendent of the Island Railroad, for his courtesy
to your Grand Secretary and for his willingness to facilitate attendance
of members to the Grand Lodge communications at reduced fares."
Standardization of the once narrow guage locally controlled Provincial
Railway and its embodiment in the Canadian National system — and the
growth of highway transportation — changed all this.

For fourteen years, from 1875, the Hon. John Yeo, Senator, was
Grand Master. In 1888, he again asked to be relieved and a resolution
was passed "That we do hereby tender to the M.W. John Yeo, P.G.M.,
our heartfelt thanks for the very able manner with which he has presided
over our deliberatioji for so long a time, with credit to himself and honor
to the fraternity."

M.W. Bro. Yeo died 14th December, 1924, and a special communi-
cation of Grand Lodge was called on December 16th to conduct the
funeral ceremonies. At the next communication June 25, 1925, the
Grand Master gave the following tribute:

"Most Worshipful Bro. Hon. John Yeo, Past Grand Master, was
initiated into Masonry on July 1, 1861, in King Hiram Lodge, Summerside.
In January 1864, he affiliated with Alexandra Lodge, Port Hill, and
became Worshipful Master. He was elected Grand Master in 1875 and
continuously until 1888; represented the Grand Lodge of Canada from
1876 and New Jersey until his death. An oil painting of the deceased
was unveiled in St. John's Lodge Room, June 25, 1919. He died
December 14, 1924, at the advanced age of 91 years .... it was earnestly
hoped that he would have lived until the celebration of the 50th Anni-
versary, but an All- Wise Providence decreed otherwise.

The following tribute was paid him in the Senate of Canada: "The
late Mr. Yeo was one of the most affable and lovable men who ever sat in
either of the two branches of this Parliament. He sat in both. His record
for continuous service, rifts in the Legislature of his native Province, then
in the elective chamber of this Parliament and finally in this Honorable
House is probably unequalled in the political annals of Canada. Contempor-
aneously with the attainment of his majority, he was elected a member
of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, the Province in
which he was born, and in that Assembly he sat without interruption for
thirty-three years. For thirty-two years thereafter — eight in the House
of Commons and twenty-four in this House — he was an assiduous and
ever deeply interested member of this Parliament. Altogether he rendered
sixty-five years of continuous pubHc service. From the beginning he
won and until the last he retained the richly desired confidence, admiration
and affection of everyone in his own community and here, irrespective
of party, religious or ethnical affiliation."

Succeeding as the second Grand Master was Neil MacKelvie. He
was a distinguished Masonic pioneer and prominent banker, an active
member of King Hiram Lodge. After formation of Grand Lodge, he

— 10(»—

•"

0)
liJ

li.

z
<

>•

.E c

-ss

rt .

W 1)

Q .'
pq

c
^2

o
pi

n o

J""

oPQ^

c o

Plh^

o-o

u *"■•
<u

in •
cfl<C

a
U

^ n
Co

aPQ

Kg
. c

H .

•♦J >-/
a

a o
e .

2«

be
c
o

C/3

— lOlCV-

served as Deputy Grand Master in 1879-80 and 1887-88 and as Grand
Master in 1889. From 1895 to 1909. he was Grand Secretary. His death
occurred on March 6, 1918. A special communication of Grand Lodge
was called to assist at his burial with Masonic honors.

Growing membership and improved communication created the
desire for more lodges. On June 24, 1884, St. Andrews Lodge No. 13,
Montague, was chartered. The following year. Prince Edward Lodge
No. 14, Stanley Bridge, was founded on June 24, 1885. At the 16th
annual communication in 1891, a move was reported to transfer True
Brothers No. 8 from Tryon to Cape Traverse, an important place in
winter as the point of departure via Ice Boat for those travelling to the
mainland. At the Same time a lodge was proposed for Crapaud. Instead,
a new lodge. Mount Moriah, No. 15, Cape Traverse, was formed under
dispensation in 1897 (chartered June 26, 1899), and True Brothers Lodge
was granted permission to move to Crapaud where it is still located.

The centennial of St. John's Lodge was marked by a special com-
munication of Grand Lodge on October 13, 1897, with M.W. Bro. Leonard
Morris presiding. Grand Lodge was welcomed by W. Bro. Adam Murray
who had been W.M. of the Lodge in 1859. The Grand Master's address
was appropriate to the occasion and he said "For 100 years this charter
which you have presented to me has hung upon your walls as your
authority to do good square honest work. The brethren whose names
are written in it have long since gone to their reward. On the foundation
they laid, you have built. This is a red letter day in the history of the
Craft on Prince Edward Island. This is not only the centennial of St.
John's Lodge; it is also the centennial of the regular establishment of
Masonry in this Province."

In the first quarter century of its being, Grand Lodge was called
upon to lay corner-stones on four occasions. The first was on July 1,
1887, at the new Charlottetown City Building. Grand Lodge adjourned
from its annual meeting June 24th until Dominion Day and the account
reads :

"The Grand Lodge, escorted by the Royal Arch Chapter and a large
number of brethren from the subordinate Lodges and several visiting
brethren headed by the Band of the 82nd Battalion, marched to the
Market Square where the different Societies were assembled to
celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. After an address by the Lieutenant
Governor, the different Societies started in procession, the Masonic
being last, and marched — to the site of the Public Building."

Bro. the Hon. T. Heath Haviland, Mayor of the City, presented a trowel
to M.W. John Yeo, who duly laid the stone. Opening and closing
Masonic odes were sung and the Mayor gave an oration.

On May 24, 1892, an emergent meeting of Grand Lodge was held in
Charlottetown to lay the corner-stone of the new Masonic Temple. The
erection of this fine building was the culmination of intensive effort by
those who organized a joint stock company and give P.E.I. Masons a

—1011—

headquarters in which justifiable pride might be taken. Dedication of
the spacious lodge room for St. John's and Victoria Lodges took place
on March 21, 1895, likewise at an emergent communication. This building
and Masonic premises therein served the Craft well until 1955 when a
disastrous fire caused its utter destruction. The "Guardian" of October
10, 1956, reported the finding of this corner-stone by workmen engaged
in cleaning the rubble "at the northeast corner of the building according
to Masonic tradition and custom." The contents were found in an excel-
lent state of preservation.

Masonic ceremonies to lay corner-stones were also conducted in
connection with the building of two churches. On August 3, 1893, the
corner-stone of the new Methodist Church in Summerside was laid by
M.W. Bro. T. A. McLean, Grand Master. Then on June 27, 1898, a
special meeting at Kensington was convened to lay the corner-stone of a
new Methodist Church building at Margate. The officiating Grand
Master was M.W. Bro. Leonard Morris.

Time was taking its toll of the pioneers. At the 25th annual
communication, the Grand Master said "It is now a quarter of a century
since the formation of this Grand Lodge. A generation has passed away
and many changes have occurred during that period. Very few indeed
of those who assisted in the formation are now present and comparatively
few who were connected with its early history." The membership was
now 535. One recalls here the remark of M.W. Bro. J. W. Morrison at
the 1891 communication. He said "When I had the privilege of being
made a Mason nearly a half century ago, St. John's was only recovering
from that vile persecution (The Morgan episode). The total number of
affiliated Masons then on the Island being 18 and the funds in a low
condition."

M.W. Bro. Adam Murray

In 1910 the M.W. Grand Master W. P. Doull said "There are only
12 Masons left who had seats in the Grand Lodge at its formation." One
of these was Adam Murray. He was an outstanding figure for many
years. Worshipful Master in 1859, District Grand Master in 1871,
Honorary Past Grand Master in 1886, he was still active in 1907, when the
Grand Master referred to his proficiency in ritual and presented him with
an apron. He died in 1915 and at the annual communication on June
28, 1916, the M.W. Grand Master J. D. Stewart gave this tribute:

"Shall I not write after his name 'The Grand Old Man of Prince
Edward Island Masonry'? The oldest Past Master ni the juris-
diction, at the time of his death he had lived to see generations of the
Craft pass out one after another at the West Gate. His services to
Masonry were as faithful and valuable as they were long. He was
made a Master Mason in 1853 in St. John's Lodge and became Wor-
shipful Master in 1859. He was present and assisted in the formation
of this Grand Body and was almost continuously an office-bearer
up to the time when from the infirmities of age he was incapacitated
from further service. He died on the 11th of October 1915, full of
years and Masonic honors and was buried by his brethren."

—1012—

Testimony to Bro. Murray's knowledge of ritual is a book called
"The Freemason's Companion," a monitor compiled and arranged by him
and printed in Charlottetown in 1869. The frontispiece reads:

"THE
FREEMASON'S COMPANION;
CONTAINING
THE MONITORIAL PART OF THE FIRST THREE DEGREES IN
FREEMASONRY, WITH THE INSTALLATION, FUNERAL SER-
VICE, AND PRAYERS FOR SEVERAL OCCASIONS,

TOGETHER WITH

A LIST OF ALL THE LODGES IN P.E. ISLAND.

AND TIME OF MEETING.

COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY

ADAM MURRAY,

PAST MASTER, SAINT JOHN'S LODGE, NO. 397, E.R.

CHARLOTTETOWN :
Published at the "North Star" Office

1869."

It is strange that no reference to this publication appears in the early
records of proceedings nor did it ever come into common usage among
the lodges.

Maritime Relationships

At the turn of the century, there was an abortive attempt to amal-
gamate the three Maritime Grand Lodges. The 1900 proceedings report
on this in some detail, the summation being that as "Nova Scotia did
appoint two committees, one to treat with New Brunswick, the other
with Prince Edward Island, neither to treat with the other two," the
Island Committee could not carry out the terms of its appointment
and so no progress was made. A half century later, in 1957, the tide
was flowing again in the direction of more co-operation. The Board of
General Purposes reported receipt of a letter from the Grand Lodge of
Nova Scotia seeking closer relations among Maritime Grand Lodges.
This was favourably acted upon and an excellent working arrangement
between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island has been the outcome.
This is outHned in the 1958 proceedings. At the same time, inter-
provincial visits including those of degree teams between P.E.I, and both
N.S. and N.B. have been arranged.

■1013—

Benjamin Rogers
grand master

Hon. William S. Stewart

GRAND master

The next quarter century was marked by quiet development. Two
new lodges were chartered in this period: King Edward No. 16, Malpeque,
on June 24, 1904, and Mispah Lodge No. 17, Eldon, on June 26, 1912. The
continuing exodus of so many young men westward was a deterrent to
more rapid growth. In 1904 the Grand Master said "We fear that
applicants spring up upon the eve of their departure from the Province."

A proposal for appointment of District Grand Masters was not
welcomed "owing to the number of small lodges in the jurisdiction and
that the members desire to have a personal visit from the Grand Master."
That a personal visit was not always possible was evident year after year
as commissions were issued to individual Past Grand officers to represent
the Grand Master in official visitations to particular lodges.

Benevolence

The story of organized Masonic charity is one of ebb and flow.
The original Constitutions of 1875 provided for "The Fund of Benevolence
of the Grand Lodge of P.E.I.". By some unhappy mischance, this

— lOli

article was omitted from the first revision and in 1895 the subject was
revived by M.W. Grand Master R. MacNeill with commendable reference
to the framers of the first Constitution whose foresight had been nullified
(John W. Morrison, Thos. A. McLean, Geo. A. Aitken and John Muir-
head). A voluntary subscription was taken as the beginning of a fund
but this grew slowly and it was not until 1906 when M.W. Bro. W. K.
Rogers became Grand Master that energetic and serious leadership
planning, campaigning and organization brought the fund to a reality.
The proceedings of 1907 and 1908 outline his activity. M.W. Bro. Rogers
and those who became associated with him in enthusiastic devotion
to the cause of benevolence laboured through the years and after he
passed away on September 1, 1937, the Grand Master gave this tribute
"The Grand Lodge activity with which he was most prominently identified
was the Benevolent Fund. This Fund had been established shortly before
his election to the Grand East and at the time of his installation had a
credit balance of $944. Not only did he give this Fund his personal
attention during two terms as Grand Master but he served as Trustee
from 1909 to the date of his passing. During that period the Fund grew
to over $17,000."

Other expressions of the Grand Lodge's interest in benevolence have
been made over the years in identification with the P.E.I. Hospital, the
P.E.L Protestant Orphanage, and in the later establishment of the
Masonic Orphans' Fund supplementary to the Benevolent Fund. The
Fund was incorporated in 1911, revised in 1919 and now has a combined
credit balance of more than $45,000.

Masonic interest in the P.E.L Protestant Orphanage has been ex-
hibited through the years. Recognition of this was made on September
14, 1921, when the Grand Master was invited to lay the foundation stone
of the new Protestant Orphanage. A special communication was called
for this purpose with a large attendance when the ceremony was performed
by M.W. Bro. John McNevin.

The P.E.L Hospital likewise acknowledged indebtedness to the
interest manifested by the Craft through many of its active members
by an invitation to lay the corner-stone of the new hospital building
erected on Brighton Road. A large assemblage of Masons in procession,
numbering over 150, led by the Canadian Legion Band, proceeded to the
hospital site on October 10, 1932, when the corner-stone was laid with
due ceremony by the Grand Master and an address was delivered by
M.W. Bro. Judge W. S. Stewart. Chairman of the occasion was the
Honorable J. D. Stewart, Premier of the Province.

The First World War brought a contribution of $1,075 from the
membership of 818 to Canada Lodge, London, towards its project of a
fifty bed fully equipped auxiliary hospital near Folkestone. The Honour
Roll numbered a large enlistment from the P.E.L Lodges relative to the
total membership.

—1015—

In 1925 the semi-centennial was marked by a Grand Lodge cele-
bration at which distinguished visitors were: M.W. Bro. A. J. Davis,
Grand Master of Nova Scotia, M.W. Bro. Geo. D. Ellis, Grand Master
of New Brunswick and M.W. Bro. Rev. Allan P. Shatford, Past Grand
Master of Quebec. At a church service in old St. Paul's Church,
Bro. Shatford preached from the text "How old art Thou", Genesis 47:8.
(His sermon is printed in the 1925 proceedings as are the accounts of
other events including the semi-centennial banquet. R.W. Bro. G. W.
Wakeford gave an historical sketch of Freemasonry in P.E.I, which is
likewise printed.)

In his report to Grand Lx)dge the Grand Secretary R.W. Bro. Ernest
Kemp said "Our Grand Lodge is one of the smallest in the world ....
I find that in looking over the records, our membership at the formation
of Grand Lodge was 526. Today it is 1,169. During the above period
we have had a membership entered on our roll of 2,498."

Anomaly

An anomaly of the Prince Edward Island Grand Lodge has been
the one-year term for Grand Masters. After fourteen years' outstanding
service as Grand Master, M.W. John Yeo was followed in that office by
a succession of eminent Masons who were given one term each only
until 1894 when M.W. Bro. T. A. McLean was elected for a second
year. This has happened only three times since that date. M.W. Bro.
Leonard Morris was elected in 1897-1898, Benjamin Rogers Sr. in 1903-4
and W. K. Rogers in 1906-7. On June 24, 1894, M.W. Bro. Donald Darrach
gave notice of motion "that at the next annual communication he will
move that Sec. 1 of Art. 4 be replaced and the following substituted:
'The officers of Grand Lodge shall be elected at every second annual
communication and shall hold their respective offices for two years and
until their successors are duly elected and installed." The motion failed
to eventuate,

A document headed "St. John's Day in Winter, 1897", prepared after
the centennial of St. John's Lodge on October 13th of that year, contains
an argument largely on economic grounds for biennial communications.
It concludes "Under the biennial system the Grand officers would not
increase so rapidly but when we consider that we have 95 Past Grand
officers out of a total Grand Lodge membership of (about) 140 and a
total lodge membership of 520, we need not allow it to interfere with the
betterment of the Grand and subordinate Lodges."

On June 24, 1901, the committee on Grand Master's address recom-
mended: "And in future, two years at least should be the term accorded
to a faithful Grand Master."

At the 1946 annual communication "M.W. Bro. R. H. Rogers referred
to the fact that in some of the other Grand jurisdictions the practice of
electing a new Grand Master each year is not carried out as has been the

—1016—

custom in this Grand jurisdiction for a considerable number of years. It
might be of some advantage if a Grand Master was elected for more than
one term, as he would then be in a better position to render greater
service to the Craft through the knowledge and experience gained during
his first year of office." Bro. Rogers was one of the most erudite and
thoughtful Masons who have served Grand Lodge through the years and
this was a considered judgment. In 1946 P.E.I, had 20 Past Grand
Masters; in 1958 there were 25 living.

The proposition of a second term was raised again by the Grand
Master in his address on June 25, 1958, when he said: "It is impossible
for any Grand Master to accomplish what he sets out to do in one short
year. Other and larger jurisdictions have learned that the Grand Master
m.ust serve more than one year. I would like to recommend that this
Grand Lodge give serious thought to the possibility of having the elected
officers .... hold office for two consecutive years .... One year as
Grand Master honors the man — two years would do honor to the Craft."

1925 - 1950

The third quarter century proved the 50th anniversary an excellent
springboard for advancement. On June 2Z, 1927, a new lodge was char-
tered at Hunter River, Prince of Wales No. 18. The period ended with
a dispensation for a lodge at O'Leary in Prince County, chartered June
27, 1951, as Corinthian Lodge No. 19, daughter lodge of Alexandra No.
5 and Zetland No. 7. In Summerside two lodges which had worked
harmoniously for many years but which had sometimes crowded each
other in a limited jurisdiction decided to amalgamate. King Hiram No.
3 and Mount Lebanon No. 6 each held its charter, both charters being
endorsed to indicate that the amalgamated lodge would henceforth be
known as Hiram & Lebanon No. 3. The event was unique when the
two lodges convened in turn by dispensation on December 20. 1927, con-
firmed the minutes of the last regular communication and then called
from labour to refreshment; after which they were called on again con-
currently as a consolidated lodge for the election of officers and other
business. The 75th anniversary of King Hiram Lodge No. 3 was cele-
brated by the consolidated lodge in 1934 with a series of events,, ending
with a playlet "In Double Harness" by R. V. Harris.

A special event of this period was an emergent meeting in Montague
on September 6, 1926, to lay the corner-stone of a new Masonic building.

The Diamond Jubilee of Grand Lodge was observed in 1935. Among
other events marking the occasion was the presentation of jewels to
sixteen Masons with fifty years' membership.

In 1938 Alexandra Lodge marked its 75th anniversary and an
historical sketch is printed in the Grand Lodge proceedings. Its
daughter lodge. Zetland, celebrated its 75th aiinixt-rvary in 1944.

—1017—

M. W. Bro. Neil MacKelvie

GRAND MASTER. 1889

Inter-lodge competition in ritualistic work was encouraged by pre-
sentation of a shield by M.W. Bro. G. E. Full in 1930 for proficiency
in work.

The Grand Lodge was represented by two Past Grand Masters at
the dedication of the Masonic Peace Memorial building in London in
1933 and at the Bi-centenary of the Grand Lodge of Massachussetts in
the same year. In 1939 M.W. Bro. Donald E. Baker and M.W. Bro. G. E.
Full attended the installation ceremony in London of H.R.H. The Duke of
Kent as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England. The
Island Grand Lodge was likewise represented at the 200th anniversary
of Masonry in Nova Scotia in 1938. Distinguished delegates from the
United Grand Lodge of England, The Grand Lodges of Ireland and
vScotland and a number of Grand Lodges of Canada and U.S.A. visited
P.E.I, on July 15, 1938, and were royally entertained. The souvenir
program of this occasion is printed in the 1938 proceedings along with
historical sketch of Prince Edward Island and the development of
Masonry therein.

—1018—

The Royal Visit of Their Majesties King George VI and Queen
Elizabeth in 1939 was an event of interest to Masons and it was recorded
that some 300 members of the Craft participated by request in lining
part of the route followed by the Royal couple through the city.

The Second World War made its impact on Island Masonry. A
contribution of $2,000 was given the United Grand Lodge of England
to be used in the war effort. An influx of membership was noted and in
1950 the membership was 1,260.

A growing sense of history was becoming apparent as the con-
stituent lodges and Grand Lodge became older. In 1941 stimulus was
given to this thinking by a visit from M.W. Bro. R. V. Harris, P.G.M.
of Nova Scotia, and a special committee brought in the following recom-
mendation in part:

"That the incoming Grand Master name a special committee to be
known as the Archives and Library Committee, with the following
duties:

1. In association with the Grand Historian to urge upon each Lodge
th^ immediate duty of compiling their history from all available
sources.

2. That the committee gather all the available history and records
and articles of Masonic interest, and that a space be set apart
in the Masonic building at Charlottetown for their proper pre-
servation and display.

3. That the committee arrange with the Grand Historian of the
Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia for copies of records in the Archives
of the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia which relate to Masonry in the
Province.

4. That the committee co-operate with the Grand Historian of the
Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia in the completion of the history of
Freemasonry in the Maritime Provinces and that a copy of such
history be obtained for our archives and records.

The death of G. W. Wakeford on September 15, 1944, terminated a
Masonic career of an outstanding nature. Initiated August 11th, passed
September 15th and raised November 13, 1874, he was present at the
formation of Grand Lodge. He became Deputy Grand Master of Grand
Lodge in 1877 and was Grand Secretary from 1879 to 1883. Over many
years, he indicated deep interest in Masonic scholarship and was a long-
time member of the correspondence circle of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge
of Research, London, England. An historical sketch of St. John's Lodge
was prepared by him for the Centennial in 1897 and again in 1925, as
well as in 1934. These were printed in the annual proceedings. In 1932,
he was made Honorary Past Grand Master. After his death on July 23,
1948, the Deputy Grand Master G. G. Wood informed Grand Lodge that
Miss Helen Wakeford had expressed the wish that a portion of her

—1019—

father's extensive library, together with certain Masonic jewels, be given
to Grand Lodge as a memorial. A resolution of thanks was passed.

The 150th anniversary of St. John's Lodge was celebrated in 1947.
In his report on June 23, 1948, M.W. Bro. W. A. MacQuarrie referred
to this:

"An outstanding event was the observance on October 19th last ot
the 150th anniversary of the granting of the charter to St. John's Lodge
No. 1, Charlottetown. This was a landmark in Masonic history in this
jurisdiction, for the founding of St. John's Lodge meant the establishment
of Masonry in P.E.L After church service in Trinity United Church,
the Grand Master unveiled a tablet in the Lodge room in honor of the
members of the Lodge who served in World War II. Bro. Rev. J. T.
Jbbott delivered a suitable address. M.W. Bro. G. E. Full then gave a
fine historical sketch of the early history of St. John's Lodge."

The Island Grand Lodge was represented at the first conference of
all Canadian Grand Lodges held in Toronto on February 28th, March
1st and 2nd, 1949, then on May 13th and 14th of the same year was host
to the third annual Eastern Canada Conference in Charlottetown when
M.W. Bro. G. G. Wood was Chairman.

1950 - 1960

As it embarked on the present quarter century on its history, still
in the making, and looking to its centennial, the Grand Lodge gave
evidence of continuing the trend observable during the forties of a growing
sense of maturity and awareness of its place in the Masonic world. Marks
of this were improved communication with other Grand Lodges, partici-
pation in Masonic conferences and establishment in 1949 of a Board of
General Purposes to assist the Grand Master in administration of Grand
Lodge affairs. The Board's annual reports testify to its placing emphasis
on the quality of Masonic performance. An early project was the
drafting of a new constitution and by-laws and of standards in admin-
istration. Reports of foreign correspondence became more informative.
Inter-provincial visits were more frequent. For encouraging this trend,
tribute is deserving to M.W. Bro. R. V. Harris, P.G.M., of Nova Scotia, for
many years an affiliated member of St. Andrews Lodge Montague, and
Honorary Past Grand Master of Prince Edward Island since 1933.

These matters, however, are of current knowledge. Our concern in
this account has been to pause briefly, calling to mind the elemental
question familiar to all "Whence came you?" Events of earlier days
and those who shaped them have been brought into focus but the more
important question is "Whither are you travelling?" A backward look
is justified only if it serves as orientation for continued forward progress.
The bodies of our pioneers were laid to rest in the red soil of their Island
home. Inscriptions on stones in scores of cemeteries attest to their lives
and service. They have left an inheritance of the spirit and a new

—1020—

generation has entered into their labours. The Hmited statistics and

scanty records in the printed proceedings are but points of departure in

a search for evidence of their rich contribution to Craft Masonry in
Prince Edward Island.

Acknowledgements
Historical data

— M.W. Bro. R. V. Harris, P.G.M.
R.W. Bro. F. A. Vanlderstine,

J.G.W.

— Grand Lodge of P.E.I.

— A. B. Warburton

— MacKinnon & Warburton

Proceedings 1876 - 1958

History of Prince Edward Island

Past and Present of P.E.I.

(Article on Freemasonry by M.W. Bro. W. R. McNeill, P.G.M.)

Article on "Loyal Electors" — D. C. Harvey

Historical Atlas of P.E.I. (1880) — Meecham

Resume of History of Victoria Lodge (1907)

Pioneers on the Island — Mary Brehaut

—1021—

—1022—

*^i^— i*^— ■■-^•■^— ii^— ii^— ii^— •■^— ai^— ■••^■■— — ■•— i-n^— ••^— ■•— la^— M^— M^— M^— M^— ii^— M^— ■■•^■■^— >^

: f f I

I No. 57 I

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

19 6 1

j. WILLIAM JARVIS

1} First Provincial Grand Master

I I Upper Canada

Is BY V. W. BRO. J. LAWRENCE RUNNALLS

m
m

Read at the 30th meeting of the Association,
Toronto, Ontario, February 17, 1961.

■M^— •<■•

'»^— — m i^^p—— aa aa aa aa aa m ■■ aa ai aa — — ^»— »— — — ^— ««^»HMM^— ^— — ■■ ■ a y

— 1Q23—

William Jarvis

(1756-1817)
First Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada

William Jarvis has had distinction in three phases of life. He fought
bravely during the American Revolutionary War on the side of the British
and therefore may be claimed as a United Empire Loyalist. He served as the
first Provincial Secretary and Registrar for the Government of Upper Canada.
Thirdly, he was appointed as the first Provincial Grand Master of the Pro-
vincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada.

Family Background

The Jarvis family is an extremely old one which can trace its roots back
to the middle ages in France. The name has gone through a wide range of
spellings and even today in Canada it may be spelled in several ways, although
Jarvis is the most frequently found.

Perhaps the record going back the farthest is that of Richard Gervasius
in Normandy in 1180. By 1400 the name had changed to Gervais as we find
the record of Jean Gervais living in Bretagne, France in that year. The name
Gervaise appeared in the British Writ in 1317 and three years later the name
Gerveys was found in a similar setting.

One of the most famous Britishers of the family was Sir John Jervis,
Earl St. Vincent, who was a renowned admiral during the American Revolu-
tionary War period. We find records of the family in the American colonies
as early as 1623 when the name of John Jervice appears in the records of
Virginia. In 1630 a John Jarvis was listed as a merchant of Boston.

The branch of the family to which William belonged settled during the
seventeenth century in Connecticut. Two brothers, William and Stephen
settled at Norwalk. Descendants moved on to Stamford and to Huntingdon,
Long Island, across the Sound from Norwalk,

In 1879, two of the family, G. A. Jarvis of New York and G. M. Jarvis
of Ottawa, listed hundreds of descendants spread throughout eastern United
States and Canada.

At the time of the American Revolution, it is of note that loyalties were
divided. Some remained loyal to Britain, while others took up arms against
the motherland. Many family breaches ensued. In most engagements, there
might be found Jarvises on both sides.

Such was also the case during the War of 1812-15 between Canada and
United States. For example, at the battle of Lundy's Lane, Charles James
Anson Jarvis was a lieutenant with the American forces while Samuel Peters
Jarvis (son of William) was an officer with the Canadian forces. The latter
was present at the death-bed of Sir Isaac Brock.

—1024—

r. w. bro. wm. jarvis. p.g.m., 1792 — 1817

Immediate Family History

As stated above, William and Stephen Jarvis settled in Norwalk, Con-
necticut, early in the seventeenth century. It is supposed that they migrated
from England along with other immigrants of the time. Their family motto,
"Adversis Major, Par Secundis," (Strong in prosperity, stronger in adversity)
was quite appropriate as the family saw good times as well as great difficulties.

The last will and testament of the elder William attests to the fact that
they prospered. Considering his time in history he might be classed as very
affluent.

Three names, William, Samuel and Stephen, appear with regularity in
every generation. Samuel, grandson of the elder William, was appointed town
clerk of Stamford in 1760, which position he held until 1775 when he was
forced out on account of his loyalty to Britain. He raised five sons of which
William of our story was the fifth. All were fiercely loyal to the Crown and
so were forced to suffer for this loyalty. For their protection, Samuel and
three of the sons were seized by British soldiers on a clear night in 1775 and
were taken by boat across to Long Island, where they were sheltered and
kindly treated by a family by the name of Coles. The boys, then quite young,

—1025—

later entered the forces of Britain and served well. William received serious
wounds at the battle of Yorktown. He was an ensign in the Queen's Rangers
serving under Colonel John Graves Simcoe.

By the time peace was signed in 1783, William had risen to the rank of
colonel with the Rangers.

Along with most of the Loyalists, the Jarvis brothers were forced to
migrate from their old homes. Munson and John, brothers of William settled
in New Brunswick where they made names for themselves in civilian life.

William Jarvis

William was born on September 11, 1756 at Stamford, Connecticut. He
was the eighth of eleven children of Samuel Jarvis and Martha Seymour. His
father was affluent enough to send him to England for his education. He was
trained to serve in both the civil and military fields. He joined the Queen's
Rangers under the command of Colonel John Graves Simcoe. At the outbreak
of the American Revolutionary War, at the age of 19, he was listed as a
cornet or ensign. When the war closed he resigned his commission and
returned to his home at Stamford. As feeling here ran high, he had to
leave, so he went to England to make his home.

In 1785, he married Hannah Owen Peters, daughter of Reverend Samuel
Peters, D.D., of Hebron, Connecticut, the ceremony taking place in fashionable
St. George's Church, Hanover Square, London.

As William expected to make his home in England, he joined the Western
Regiment of Militia of Middlesex with the rank of lieutenant in 1789 and two
years later was promoted to captain.

He, along with many more of his family, were Episcopalian. Rev. Samuel
Peters in later life was elected a bishop in Vermont, but was never consecrated.

Robertson said of William Jarvis, "Secretary Jarvis was a man of striking
personal appearance, being over six feet in stature, well proportioned, with a
fine face and head" (Vol. I pp. 465).

To William and Hannah Jarvis were born seven children, three boys and
four girls. The eldest son, Samuel Peters I, died at the age of five. A few
weeks after his death a second son was born who also was named Samuel
Peters.

The eldest daughter, Marie Lavinia, married John Hamilton, son of Hon.
Robert Hamilton, one of the first members of the Legislative Council of Upper
Canada and after whom the City of Hamilton was named. Mrs. Jarvis spent
her last years at the Hamilton home in Queenston.

The youngest daughter, Ann Elizabeth, married Hon. W. B. Robinson.

— 1Q26—

A Civil Servant

Colonel John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor
of Upper Canada and to him was given the task of establishing the new
government in a province peopled largely by United Empire Loyalists. He
searched out the best people he could find to assist him. William Jarvis had
been a faithful officer in the Queen's Rangers under his command and he
indicated considerable business leadership. So in July 9, 1792, he received
his appointment as Secretary and Registrar of the Records of the Province of
Upper Canada. In anticipation of his appointment, he sailed for Canada on
April 13. As early as March of that year, he wrote to his brother Munson
in Saint John, in part, as follows :

"I am in possession of the sign manual from His Majesty constituting me
Secretary and Registrar of the Province of Upper Canada, with the power
of appointing my deputies, and in every other respect a very full warrant."^

The trip across the ocean on the sailing ship, "Henniker," took two months,
a landing being made at Quebec on June 11. Apparently Colonel Simcoe had
gone on ahead as Jarvis spent some time at Quebec conferring with him and
Sir Guy Carleton (Lord Dorchester), Governor of Lower Canada.

Proceeding on, they stopped briefly at Montreal before going on to
Kingston where the new government was organized. The official staff left
Kingston on September 11 and proceeded to Newark (renamed Niagara by
Simcoe) where the first session of the legislature was opened on September
17. Mrs. Jarvis and her three children remained in Kingston until a home
could be prepared for them. They were not left long behind because on
October 17, 1792, Mrs. Jarvis wrote to her father in these words,

"Mr. Jarvis was obliged to buy a house (as the Governor would not quit
Niagara) and pay £140 for it, to which he has added three rooms of logs,
that we shall be able to get into in the course of a fortnight or three weeks.
He could not hire but at the expense of £40 per year for three rooms
and a cock-loft for which reason he thought it more advisable to do
what he has done. The £40 was in the edge of the woods two miles from
any house and of course from any market and without conveniences
belonging to it."'

Speaking of conditions at that time, she said in the same letter,

"Labour is so immensely dear, a dollar and a half a day is the usual price
for a man, or if you have him by the month eight dollars and find him
with victuals. A woman servant the lowest is 2^ dollars per month,
from that to 12 dollars. I have two girls to whom I give seven dollars a
month.'"'

When Mr. Jarvis had to spend a winter in Toronto he left his family well

^Robertson: History of Freemasonry in Canada, Vol. 1, ])g. 463.

2 Women's Canadian Historical Society, Transaction No. 23, Letter dated 25.10.92.

3 Ibid - Letter Hannah Jarvis dated 25.10.92.

—1027-

supplied with food as he explained to Dr. Peters in this extract from a letter
dated November 22, 1793,

"I shall leave my family well provided for. I have a yoke of fatted oxen
to come down, 12 small shoats to put into a barrel occasionally which I
expect will weigh from 40 to 60 lbs., about 60 head of dung-hill fowl, 16
fine turkeys, and a dozen ducks, 2 breeding cows, a milch cow which had
a calf in August, which of course will be able to afford her mistress a
good supply of milk through the winter. In the root house I have 400
good head of cabbage, and about 60 bushels of potatoes and a sufficiency
of excellent turnips."

"My cellar is stored with three barrels of wine, 2 of cider, 2 of apples,
and a good stock of butter. My cock-loft contains some of the finest
maple sugar I ever beheld. We have 150 lb. of it. Also plenty of good
flour, cheese, coffee, loaf sugar, etc. Thus you see, I shall have the best
of companions abundantly supplied with every comfort in the wilderness.'"

This letter is quoted at length to indicate that measures had to be taken
to insure that the necessities of life might be on hand during the winter. This
certainly preceded by many years the era of the super-market.

Letters to England indicated that Secretary Jarvis had a very busy time
in his new office. He lacked equipment with which to work in his office.
He had to write out by hand hundreds of documents and attend to numerous
matters that in these times would be delegated to subordinates. He was
always requesting some piece of equipment from England. Salaries and fees
wet-e not yet finalized so he seemed to be having difficult times making ends
meet.' He must have attained some success as he was able to keep up one
of the firiest' establishments in the new land.

In 1796, Simcoe moved parliament to Toronto which he renamed York.
Along with it went the government offices. As soon as possible Jarvis pro-
vided a new home there for his family. In anticipation of such a move, he
arranged with D. W. Smith, the Surveyor-General, for a grant of land and
the erection of a suitable dwelling.

For him was set aside a park lot on the southeast corner of Duke and
Sherbourne Streets. (Between the present Queen and King Streets). He
also received 1200 acres of land on Yonge Street farther to the north.

A fine home was built for the family on the town lot.

"It was nearly finished of hewn logs, clapboarded on the outside. The
material for the house was cut on the spot . The building which was two
storeys and a half in height, faced on Sherbourne Street. It wias built
directly on the street line, and the main entrance was through the Sher-
bourne Street door, over which there was an attempt at ornamentation.
A long extension ran east along Duke Street, but there was no entrance
to the house on that side. Farther along was a fence with a high peaked
gate opening from Duke Street into the lot where were built capacious
barns, outhouses and a root house for the Secretary brought with him
from Niagara a number of horses, cows, sheep and pigs. About' the
house were planted fruit trees, among which were the pear, which seems
to have been an especial favourite with the early settlers. At the rear or
south of the house was a long verandah. The building was painted white.""

< Ibid - Letter William Jarvis dated 22.11.93.

^ Robertson - History of Freemasonry in Canada Vol. 1, pg. 464.

—1028—

At the time of its erection, the house was probably the largest and best
building in the town of York. The Secretary's office was in his home
and he had ample rom to entertain lavishly. It seems that the Jarvis family
was considered to be one of the leading families in the budding community.

William Jarvis was one of the founders of St. James Cathedral and was
a pew holder.

When William Jarvis died on August 13, 1817, he was buried with Masonic
honours in the churchyard attached to St. James Cathedral in Toronto. The
funeral was such as was due to the honourable position which he held, not
only as Provincial Secretary but as Provincial Grand Master. The entire
expense of the burial was defrayed by contributions from all the lodges in
the jurisdiction. Later the body was removed to St. James Cemetery.

From the perusal of records, it would seem that as Provincial Secretary
and Registrar, William Jarvis was a decided success. He kept a business-like
office and attended to the numerous duties encumbent upon a civil servant
of a pioneer government.

Masonic Career

William Jarvis was initiated into Freemasonry on February 7, 1792 in
Grand Masters' Lodge, London, England. It was the practice of the AthoU
Masons to have a lodge to which the Grand Master specifically belonged and
over which he presided. Jarvis later carried this practice with him to Upper
Canada. The occasion of his initiation was an important one as witnessed
by the minutes of the lodge for that night:

"William Jarvis, Esq., Captain in the West Middlesex Militia (Late
Cornet in the Queen's Rangers Dragoons) was initiated in the Grand
Master's Lodge on the 7th February, 1792.

"The Grand Officers present were :

His Grace, the Duke of Atholl, Grand Master in the chair,

R.W. James Agar, Esq., D.G.M.

R.W. William Dickey, Esq., P.S.G.W. as S.W.

R..W James Jones, Esq., P.G.G.W. as J.W.

R.W. Thomas Harper, P.S.G.W. as S.D.

R.W. Robert Leslie, Esq., G. Sec. as J.D.

R.W. John Bunn, Esq., S.G.W. and many other members."*

In England, it was the custom for Royal Arch Chapters to be attached
to Craft lodges. It was considered that the Holy Royal Arch degree was a
proper completion of the three regular degrees.

In the books of the Grand Chapter register of the Ancient Grand
Chapter, we find in folio 8, Vol. A, the entry, "1792 April 4, Jarvis, William,
G.M.L. — 240 certified". This indicates that he, a member of Grand Master's
Lodge, was admitted to the Royal Arch degree in Lodge 240 and that he
received a Royal Arch certificate.

It is of interest to note that Rev. Samuel Peters received his degree on
the same occasion.

Ibid - pg. 461.

—1029—

There seems to have been no record of Jarvis receiving the Fellowcraft
and Master Mason degrees. It can only be supposed that they were conferred
between February 7 and April 4.

At that time it was necessary to "pass the chair" to be eligible for the
Royal Arch. Since Jarvis was going to Canada and might be of service in
the establishment of the Royal Arch there, a special motion was passed to
enable him to take the degree. The minute read:

"The R.W. Deputy moved, and it was seconded, that our said Rt. W.
William Jarvys, and several other Brothers of Lodge No. 4 ,being soon
to depart for Canada, and not in that capacity to be admitted or received
into the Holy Royal Arch. That for the good of the craft in those parts,
a dispensation pass for those brothers, being recommended to the Grand
Officers for the purpose of their being received into the Holy Royal
Arch.'"

With the exception of Jarvis' attendance at a number of Masonic

functions as Provincial Grand Master, little is known of his career as a Craft

mason.

Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada

In 1791, the Constitutional Act (familiarly known as the Canada Act)
divided Canada into provinces, Upper and Lower Canada. Representative
governments were established with a Lieutenant-Governor over each and a
Governor-General with general supervisory powers. Sir Guy Carleton, made
Lord Dorchester, became Governor-General and also filled the office of
Lieutenant-Governor in Lower Canada. Colonel John Graves Simcoe was
appointed to the post in Upper Canada. At that time Lower Canada had
well over 100,000 population while Upper Canada, with the exception of its
several military posts, was just being settled by United Empire Loyalists.

Masonic lodges had followed settlement and, from 1760 on, the Moderns
Grand Lodge had a Provincial Grand Lodge in Canada. By 1791, in that part
to be known as Upper Canada, there were five lodges warranted by the
Moderns. They were : two at Niagara, one each at Cataraqui, Mackinac
and Cornwall. The Ancient or Atholl Grand Lodge had three lodges in the
Lower province but none farther west.

Early in 1791, these three lodges empowered Alexander Wilson, one of
their members, to request the Atholl Grand Lodge to warrant a Provincial
Grand Lodge in Canada and he offered to act as deputy until a suitable pro-
vincial grand master was available. Later on in the year he wrote stating that
H.R.H. Prince Edward had consented to accept appointment as Provincial
Grand Master of Upper and Lower Canada. It was not by then considered
necessary to divide Canada into parts Masonically. Upper Canada was con-
sidered to be only a wilderness as yet. The brethren requested a Provincial
Grand Lodge with "full authority to hold a Grand Lodge and to constitute
lodges."

It was unfortunate for the good of Freemasonry in Canada for many years
to come that action had already been taken by Grand Lodge before the
Canadian brethren had had ample time to make their thoughts known. Prince
Edward's position would have enhanced the craft greatly in the whole of
Canada.

'Ibid - pg. 349.

—1030-

On March 7, 1792, H.R.H. Prince Edward was appointed Provincial
Grand Master of Lower Canada. At the same meeting the following minutes
are shown :

"At the Grand Lodge, Crown and Anchor, in the Strand, the 7th day of
March, 1792,

Present
The Rt. W. James Agar, Deputy Grand Master,
The Rt. W. Thomas Harper, Past Senior Grand Warden,
The Rt. W. Mr. Robert Leslie, Grand Secretary,
The Rt. W. Mr. John Feakins, Grand Treasurer,

The W., The Masters, Past Masters and Wardens of the Warranted
Lodges.

"It was moved and seconded that our R.W. Brother Alexander Wilson,
of Lower Canada, be appointed, under the sanction of the Rt. W. Grand
Lodge, Substitute Grand Master for the said Province of Lower Canada.
Ordered upon Hke motion that our Rt. W. Bro. William Jarvys, Esq.,
soon about to depart for Upper Canada, be invested with a like appoint-
ment for the Province of Upper Canada."*

From this motion it would indicate that Wilson and Jarvis were to be
substitute or deputy grand masters with Prince Edward as Grand Master
Yet the warrant issued to Prince Edward did not indicate this. In part this
warrj^nt states :

"In pursuance whereof We Do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint
our Trusty and well Beloved Brother, His Royal Highness, Prince Edward
.... Grand Master of Masons in the said Province, and Invest our said
Royal and Right Worshipful Brother with full and ample Powers,
Privileges and Authority, as aforesaid, hereby authorizing and impower-
ing our said Royal and Right Worshipful Brother to grant warrants
and Dispensations for the holding of Lodges and making of Freemasons
in the said Province, and forming the same into Regular warranted Lodges
according to the most ancient custom of the craft in all Ages and Nations
throughout the world, and to convene a Grand Lodge when and as often
as the same may be deemed necessary or expedient within the said
Province."®

The warrant was delivered to the Prince in Quebec by William Jarvis

when he came to Canada in the summer of 1792. His own warrant had not

yet been engraved at the tinie of his sailing. When it was made out, it

made no mention of the office of Substitute Grand Master, but he was

appointed Provincial Grand Master but with powers restricted in comparison

with those granted to Prince Edward. His warrant read in part:

"In pursuance whereof, We do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint
our trusty and well beloved Brother William Jarvis, Esquire, of Upper
Canada aforesaid. Grand Master of Masonry in the said Province, and
invest our said Right Worshipful Brother with full and ample powers,
privileges and authority as aforesaid, hereby authorizing and empowering
our said Right Worshipful Brother to grant dispensations for the holding,
of Lodges and making Freemasons to such brethren as shall be sufficiently
qualified and duly recommended to receive the same in order that such
Lodges and Freemasons may be by us and our successors duly congre-
gated and formed into regular warranted Lodges .... in order to which
the said dispensations shall continue in force for the space of twelve
calendar months from the time of issuing the same respectively, and no
longer."^"-

8 Ibid - pg. 348.

•Ibid - pg. 351.

»Ibid - pg. 352.

^1031—

Jarvis then had authority only to grant dispensations for the holding of
lodges and the making of Masons. Warrants were to be issued by Grand
Lodge.

In late 1792, the brethren of Lower Canada requested Grand Lodge to
extend the powers of their Provincial Grand Master, presumably so that he
might grant warrants in Upper Canada. This was not acceded to and the
reasons were explained in a letter to Alexander Wilson dated January, 1793.
The Grand Secretary said that Grand Lodge would aid and assist Grand
Master Jarvis in every possible way and hoped that all would be well in
Upper Canada.

As Prince Edward returned to England in 1794, the matter was dropped.

William Jarvis valued his appointment quite highly as indicated in this

extract from a letter of March 28, 1792, to his brother Munson of Saint John:

'T am also very much flattered to be enabled to inform you that the Grand
Lodge of England have within these very few days appointed Prince
Edward, who is now in Canada, and William Jarvis, Secretary and
Registrar of Upper Canada, a Grand Master of Ancient Masons for that
province. However trivial it may appear to you, who are not a Mason,
yet I assure you that it is one of the most honourable appointments that
they could have conferred.'"^

The first act as Provincial Grand Master of Upper Canada on behalf of
William Jarvis was referred to in a letter written January 13, 1793, by M,rs.
Jarvis to her father. In it she said :

"The 27th December, the Grand Master was installed in great form, a
procession of all the fraternity called with music playing etc., Mr.
Addison, Grand Chaplain, a young brother, made that morning, read
prayers and preached a sermon, after which there was a dinner.""

Records of Niagara Lodge No. 2 would indicate that this affair took place
on December 27th, 1792 at Freemasons' Hall, Niagara. It was not until
April 6, 1796, that Grand Master's Lodge No. 1 was warranted.

It is certain that Jarvis did not assert his authority under his Masonic
warrant during his first year in Canada. At no time did he possess a profound
knowledge of the duties he was called on to perform. His personal knowledge
of Craft work in its executive sense was limited and so he had to rely upon
others to guide him. One of these was Christopher Danby who was charged
with delivering the official warrant to Jarvis. He, too, was a member of
Grand Master's Lodge of London.

Brother Danby was clever, well read and an expert in Craft jurisprudence
of the day. He was therefore relied upon by Jarvis to do the things he himself
should have done.

Jarvis spent three years in Canada before he had the time or the incli-
nation to formally organize the Provincial Grand Lodge. No doubt his civil
duties crowded upon him to such an extent that he could give little thought
to other matters.

" Ibid - pg. 463.

^2 Transactions No. 2Z - Letter dated January 15, 1793.

—1032-

By 1795 Davenport Phelps had assumed the position of secretary protem.
The first notice of a meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge was for July
1795. The notice addressed to Lodge No. 6 at Kingston read as follows :

"To the Worshipful Master and good brethren of Lodge No. 6. It is
the will and pleasure of the R.W.P.G. Master, William Jarvis, Esq., that
I inform you that Wednesday, the 26th day of August next, at Newark,
is the time and place appointed on which the representatives of the several
lodges in the Province are to assemble and form a Committee for the
purpose of electing the officers to compose the Provincial Grand Lodge,
at which time and place you are desired to attend.

Fail not. By order of the R.W.

Grand Master.
July Anno Domini, 1795, Anno Sap. 5795

(Signed) D. Phelps, G. Sec, Pro. Tem.""

At this meeting, five lodges had representatives in attendance and the
following slate of officers were elected and installed :

Rt. W. Bro. Wm. Jarvis, Prov. G.M. and Master

W. Bro. Robert Hamilton, Prov. Deputy Grand Master

Bro. John Butler, Sr. Grand Warden

Bro. Wm. Mackey, Jr. Grand Warden

Bro. Davenport Phelps, Grand Secretary

Bro. Christopher Danby, Grand Treasurer

Bro. Robert Addison, Grand Chaplain

From the date of the organization of the Provincial Grand Lodge,
Masonry took an upturn in Upper Canada. By 1801, nineteen lodges had
been "warranted." There seems to have been very little system practised in
issuing dispensations and warrants. The prime place was reserved for Pro-
vincial Grand Master's Lodge which was constituted on April 6, 1796. William
Jarvis, as Provincial Grand Master, was named Worshipful Master of this
lodge. The Deputy Grand Master, Robert Hamilton was specifically named
to act for him in his absence. The Wardens were Francis Crooks and Robert
Kerr.

From 1794 to 1797 the provincial government was in various stages of its
move from Niagara to York. In the latter year, the Jarvis family took up
lesidence in York and from then on their ties with Niagara were pretty thin.
Jarvis took his warrant and the jewels of Grand Lodge with him. Despite
this, the officers and brethren at Niagara carried on with Grand Lodge
activities as best they could. They continued to respect him as their Grand
Master and all official papers were sent to him for attention and signature.

The lack of correct procedure apparently caused some dismay in Grand
Lodge in England. From time to time the Grand Secretary tried to secure
proper reports from Jarvis. In 1803, the following memorandum was sent
in the hand writing of the Grand Secretary :

Memorandum of Notice. 1st June, 1803.

"We have not rec'd any return from you agreeable to the Tenor or
purport of our Warrant entrusted to your Honour and granted in London
some years since — the R.W. Grand Lodge in London hopes and trusts
you will speedily comply in this request and cause the proper return to be
made record according to regulation : in the Books of the Grand Lodge
in London.""

^ Robertson - pg. 362.
" Ibid - pg. 369.

—1033—

Dissension

Soon the brethren at Niagara, and indeed elsewhere in the province,

became discontended. Jarvis had refused to return the jewels to Niagara as

requested by the other Grand Lodge officers there. So on December 19,

1801, action was taken. This was plainly shown in the following letter to

Jarvis :

Niagara, 19th Dec. 1801.
"R. Wor. W. Jarvis — Sir and Brother. At a special meeting of Grand
Lodge, held by adjournment on the 14th inst., I was ordered to acquaint
you with the nomination of George Forsyth, Esq., to the office of Grand
Master in case of your non-attendance on the 28th inst.

S. Tiffany,

Grand Secretary."^^

Not all lodges in Upper Canada concurred with the action of the Niagara
brethren. A rift immediately arose. Many of the lodges in the eastern part
of the province remained loyal to Jarvis. However, the Niagara brethren
were determined to bring the Craft back to life, even if it meant forming a new
Grand Lodge. Despite the letter of December, 1801, no action was taken for
another year. When Jarvis made no move toward mending matters, George
Forsyth, at a meeting in January 1803, was elected to replace him. Christopher
Danby, who for years was Jarvis' adviser, turned against his former friend
and led the revolt against him.

Counselled by Jermyn Patrick of Kingston, Jarvis at last took action.
In a summons, dated October 2, 1803, and sent over the signature of Patrick,
the lodges were requested to send delegates to a Grand Lodge session at York
on February 10, 1804. Most of the lodges responded but the Niagara brethren
refrained. Then ensued a long series of letters to Grand Lodge in London
sent by the secretaries of both factions. Nothing however was resolved.

The war of 1812-15 brought matters Masonically to a virtual standstill
and the death of William Jarvis left matters open to a reconciliation which
took place in 1822.

An Appraisal of William Jarvis as Provincial Grand Master

It would seem that in the first instance Grand Lodge acted hastily in
appointing William Jarvis to his honoured position in Canada. He lacked
experience in Masonic matters and his civic duties were too numerous to
allow him much time to attend to lodge matters. He took bad advice from
Christopher Danby who should have known Masonic jurisprudence. From
all appearances Danby was a self-seeker and gloried in the shadow of Jarvis.

Time and time again the Grand Secretary attempted to get regular
returns from Upper Canada but to no avail. This led to the partial acknow-
ledgment of the schismatic Grand Lodge at Niagara.

Had Jarvis secured an advisor who would have seen to it that he lived
up to his warrant and had he paid more attention to his Masonic duties he
might have done a great deal to spread the light in a pioneer province.

However, he seems to have been a very successful Provincial Secretary
and Registrar and he led a very honourable life in both communities of Upper
Canada, where he made his home.

^ Ibid - pg. 397.

—1034—

Robertson, John Ross

Jarvis, G. A. et al.
Letters of William Jarvis

Fitzgibbon, Mary Agnes

Gould, Robert Freke
Talman, J. J.

Hughan, W. J. et al.
Taylor, John E.

Carnochan, Janet

BIBLIOGRAPHY

— The History of Freemasonry in Canada
— Volume 1.

— The Jarvis Family

(Hartford 1879)

— Transactions No. 23. Women's Canadian

Historical Society of Toronto (1922-1923).

— The Jarvis Letters

(Niagara Historical Society — Family
History No. 8 (1901).

— Encyclopaedia Canadiana

— Encyclopaedia of Canada — Vol. Ill

' — History of Freemasonry (Scrvbner Edition)

— Early Freemasonry in Ontario,

C.M.R.A. Paper No. 43

— Freemasonry in Canada (1915)
Freemasonry in Old Canada

and the War of 1812-15 Paper 44
C.M.R.A.

— History of Niagara

— History of Barton Lodge A.F. and A.M.

1795-1895.

—1035—

—1036-

No. 58

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

1961

■

■
m

!
THE MERCHANTS' LODGES jj

QUEBEC ' I

By R. W. Bro. A. J. B. Milborne

Read at the 30th meeting of the Association I |

at Toronto, February 17th, 1961. ? I

U
1 I

■ ■§ ■ ■■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ M ■■ M ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■» ■■ ■■ ■■■ ■ ■«■■ Il ^ l

—1037—

The Merchants* Lodses, Quebec

By A. J. B. MILBORNE

Merchants' Lodge was established in the City of Quebec by a Dispen-
sation issued by the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec on December 27th,
1759, when that grand body was under the direction of Lieutenant John Price
Guinnett who had been elected to the office of Provincial Grand Master at
the first meeting of the Craft held on November 28th, 1759 "which was as
soon as convenient after the surrender of this place to His Brittanic Majesty's
Arms."

It would seem to have been then given the No. 9. on the local roll.

The Minutes of Merchants' Lodge have not come to light. It would be
interesting to know about its activities particularly during the first winter
of its existence which was a perilous time for the English at Quebec. General
Murray had been left in command of a garrison of six thousand troops but
he was surrounded by ten thousand French commanded by resourceful and able
commanders in the persons of de Levis and Bougainville. The French also
controlled the St. Lawrence, as the British fleet had returned to England for
re- fitting. Scurvy was rampant in the garrison, over a thousand men dying
from it, while two thousand more were unfit for duty from the same cause.
Captain John Knox of the 43rd Regiment has vividly described the difficulties
and distresses of the siege, and it is from the pages of his Journal that we learn
that "The Anniversary of St. John was duly observed by the several Lodges
of Free Masons in the Garrison."^

From whence did Merchants' Lodge draw its first members ? Although
the decisive battle of the Plains of Abraham was fought on September 13th,
1759, and the French garrison of Quebec capitulated five days later, it was
not until the 29th of that month that the main body of the British troops
marched into the city, or more properly, the ruins of it.^ Yet within three
months there were enough merchants, functionaries and discharged soldiers
available to form a Lodge which became one of the most active in the early
days of the Craft in the newly conquered territory.

Merchants from Halifax, and the New England colonies — and some
adventurers — very quickly came to Quebec. The future of the colony was
not finally settled until after the surrender of Vaudreuil at Montreal in June
of the following year, and then these merchants came in greater numbers.

It is only comparatively recently that the impression of the conditions
existing in the new colony given by earlier historians who painted "the early
days of British rule in dark colours contrasting sharply with their brightly
tinted pictures of New France," ^ has been corrected.

^Historical Journal of the Campaigns in North America. Vol. 11-313.
^Murray's Journal, p. 104.

^Wade. The French Canadians, p. 47. See also Abbe Arthur Maheux. French Canada
and Britain.

-1038—

Writing to General Amherst in January 1761, General Murray said the
conditions in Quebec were beyond his power to describe but they had

"afforded the King's British subjects an opportunity of exerting that ben-
evolence and charity inseparable from the sentiments which the freedom of
our laws of church and state must ever inspire." This opportunity was not
lost by the Freemasons for in the Memorial to the Grand Master of England
praying for the issue of a Patent to the Provincial Grand Master dated
November 2nd, 1762, the Committee charged with its drafting, apologised for
the "small token" forwarded with it for the Charity Fund of Grand Lodge,
and w^rote "you will excuse our not Enlarging it at present, having had
frequent opportunities, of Extending our Charitable Collections not only to
distress'd Brethren and poor Widows of Brethren who have fallen on the
field of battle, but even to relieve the distresses and miseries of some hundreds
of poor, miserable Canadians during the Course of a long and Severe Winter."

John Gawler, an artilleryman, in recounting those early days, said the
assistance the Masons had been able to render "brought the Craft into such
universal esteem, that numbers applyed to the different Lodges and was made
Masons, in as much as to make them so numerous (as) to oblige the Grand
Master to grant Warrants from under his present authority."

Warrant No. 277 E.R. (Moderns)

Apparently the members of Merchants' Lodge did not wait to get a
Warrant through the Provincial Grand Lodge, but obtained it directly from
the Grand Lodge of England ("Moderns"). This is not surprising as the
Provincial Grand Lodge was not at all sure of its regularity. Lieutenant
Guinnett had been elected Provincial Grand Master more or less in a tem-
porary capacity "until such time as a favourable opportunity should offer for
obtaining a proper Sanction from the Right Worshipful the Grand Master
of England" to quote from the Minutes of that first meeting recorded in a
Letter Book kept by James Thompson, a Scottish Mason made in Tain, then
serving as a Sergeant in the 78th Regiment (Eraser's Highlanders).

The Warrant was issued on March 21st, 1762, was numbered 211 on the
English Register, and was received at Quebec during the summer of that
year, for at a meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge held on October 30th,
1762, the Lodge was represented by its Master and Wardens and the Warrant
was produced.

In a Memorandum attached to the Memorial above mentioned Merchants'
Lodge is shown as No. 9, and there is a note — "(This Lodge is that which
is mentioned to have a Warrant from England under the name of Merchants'
Lodge, Quebec, No. 1.)"

Merchants' Lodge with its new number was thus placed at the head of
the local roll, and made senior to Select Lodge which had received a Dispen-
sation from the Provincial Grand Lodge about the same time as Merchants'
Lodge. This is easily understandable as the Grand Lodge of England did

—1039—

not recognise the existence of the Provincial Grand Lodge until 1760 when
Colonel Simon Fraser, the Commanding Officer of the 78th Regiment, was
regularly installed as Provincial Grand Master by Thomas Dunckerley, the
Master Gunner on H.M.S. Vanguard, in virtue of a Special Patent granted to
him by the Grand Master of England. It is not clear what were the exact
terms of Dunckerley's Patent. John Gawler, a most active Mason, who acted
as a sort of unofficial representative of the Quebec brethren when he returned
to England with his battery, writing to the Grand Secretary of the Grand
Lodge of England in 1769 said it was "to inspect into the State of the Craft
wheresoever he might go." Sadler, in his Life of Dunckerley, writes that it
gave Dunckerley "authority to regulate Masonic affairs in the newly acquired
Canadian provinces that he might visit where no Provincial Grand Master
had been appointed." Whatever may have been the precise terms of the Patent,
the regularity of Colonel Eraser's installation has never been questioned by
the Grand Lodge of England.

Although the Lodges in Quebec derived their authority from the Grand
Lodge of England ("Moderns") there can be no doubt that the form of their
working was "Ancient," it having been received from the Irish Lodges who
with the Louisbourg Lodge No. 1 warranted by the Provincial Grand Lodge
of Massachusetts, ("Moderns") formed the first Provincial Grand Lodge, and
there was no difference in essentials between the Irish working, and that
practised by the "Ancients." This was not an obstacle to Scotsmen, such as
James Thompson, who had been made Masons in their native land, for the
Grand Lodge of Scotland had been under no compulsion to introduce inno-
vations into the Craft working which the "Ancients" alleged the "Moderns"
had done.

Proof of this view may be found in the Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge,
No. 6, Quebec. In 1783, for example, brethren from No. 169 E.R.(A)
New York, No. 210 E.R.(A) New York, No. 236 I.C, held in the 53rd
Regiment, and No. 1 Halifax (A) are recorded as visitors. These brethren
could not have obtained entrance to St. Andrew's Lodge if it had been prac-
tising "Modern" Masonry. Two years later, in 1785, Bro. James Thompson,
then the Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec, wrote
to Bro. Joseph Peters, Grand Secretary of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Nova
Scotia ("Ancients") "there is not a Lodge throughout this Province, but are
strangers to what is understood of Modern Masonry. We hold fast to the
Old Landmarks ... It is true that the Grand Lodge of England have . . .
instructed the Lodges under her care to adopt a certain alteration . . . and
some of the Lodges in London continue this mode of practice to this time . . .
notwithstanding, such of them as we meet with, we will not admit into our
Lodges till they are ushered in in the manner we have been." From this it
seems clear that a "Modern" Freemason, hailing from England, could not
obtain admission to a Lodge under the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec
without being "re-made" despite the fact that the Provincial Grand Lodge
held allegiance to the Grand Lodge of England ("Moderns").

—1040—

If additional proof were needed, it may be found in England when Captain
Milborne West, who had held the office of Provincial Grand Master in Quebec
was "re-made gratis" when he joined the Bear Lodge, Bath — a Modern Lodge.
The Quebec brethren were "Traditioners" to use the word so aptly coined by
Bro. J. Heron Lepper* to describe those Masons under the Grand Lodge of
England ("Moderns") who either through ignorance, or by deliberate intent
disregarded the instructions of that grand body, and continued to observe the
earlier customs of the Craft.

Progress

The attention and energies of the Masons in Quebec over a number of
years were directed to obtaining a Patent of Appointment for their Provincial
Grand Master. Finally a Patent was issued by the Grand Lodge of England
appointing Captain Milborne West. In the meantime, however, the Captain
had returned to England. Correspondence with him failed to persuade him
to forward the document. In 1766, James Thompson, the Provincial Grand
Secretary, wrote to London that certain members of Merchants' Lodge who
were visiting England had undertaken to get the Warrant from Bro. West
"but we were greatly Chagrin'd at our being disappointed therein by their
being lost in coming up to this Town from Cape Torment in the Ship's
Pinnace." It is not known who were these unfortunate members of Merchants'
Lodge.

The Festivals of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist were
regularly celebrated by the Lodges in Quebec, when the brethren "well
dressed" and wearing "white stockings, white aprons and white gloves" marched
in procession to Church, after which they celebrated the day in the traditional
manner. The first issue of the Canada Gazette, the first Canadian newspaper,
dated June 21st, 1764 carried the following advertisement : —

"NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT on SUNDAY the 24th being
the Festival of St. Jhon, such strange Brethren who may have a desire
of joining the Merchants' Lodge, No. 1, Quebec, may obtain Liberty by
applying to Miles Prenties, at the Sun in St. John Street, who has Tickets,-
Price Five shillings for that Day."^

Some of our historians have identified Miles Prentice as a member of
Merchants' Lodge on the strength of this advertisement, but such an identifi-
cation seems extremely doubtful. He was the landlord of the Sun Hotel
mentioned in the advertisement where the Lodges usually met, and therefore
it would have been convenient for strange brethren to obtain their tickets
from him. His membership in and Mastership of St. Patrick's Lodge has
been clearly established and it seems more than likely that he was a member
of the Inhabitants of the Town Lodge out of which St. Patrick's Lodge grew.
He had formerly been a member of Lodge No. 136 I.C, held in the 17th
Regiment, though he was at the time serving in the 43rd Regiment."

In 1766, James Thompson reported to London that there were only ninety
brethren "congregating" with the Provincial Grand Lodge.

*AQC LVI-138: LVII-264.
5AQC XXV-236.

«R. V. Harris. The Masonic Lodge in the 17th Leicestershire Regiment. The Builder.
Vol. XIII-67.

—1041—

The Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge record on June 24th, 1767 "Opened
the Lodge at ten o'clock & proceeded to Bro. Prentice's where all the Lodges
assembled, and walked from there in Procession to Church where we had a
Sermon from our Reverend Bro. Henry after which Conducted the Grand
Master to Bro. Prentice's & returned to our Lodge room Where we dined
together. Spent the afternoon in Innocent Mirth and Harmony." On De-
cember 27th of the same year, the Minutes record "The different Lodges
residing at Quebec to meet at ten o'clock in the morning of St. John's Day,
the 27th inst., from whence they are to proceed to the Meeting House at the
Jesuits' College where our Rev. Bro. Henry is to Deliver a Discourse
suitable to the Occasion after which they are to return to their Lodge room,
Dine together and visit in the usual manner between the hours of and 7
o'clock."

On June 24th, 1769 "Brothers Thompson and Munro ordered to visit the
different Lodges who return'd the Compliment."

On June 24th, 1775, the brethren of St. Andrew's Lodge "proceeded to
Bro. Prentice's to dine with the other Lodges." "Bro. Prentice's was by this
time the property now occupied by the City Post Office which he purchased
in 1771 and upon which stood the house erected in 1688 and said to be the
first built of stone in the city. Many romantic stories have been woven
around this old house — Le Chien d'Or. Prentice converted it into a hotel,
later to be known as Freemasons' Hall. In 1787 it was purchased by the
"Society of Freemasons," and on the 3rd November it was solemnly dedicated
to Masonry, the ceremony being attended by Lord and Lady Dorchester, "and
a numerous company of ladies and gentlemen who testified with much satis-
faction to the regularity and decorum with which it was conducted." In 1790
the property was transferred to Andrew Cameron, a member of St. Andrew's
Lodge. Prentice died in 1790 or 1791. The report of his earlier death is an
"exaggeration" by historians who have been led astray by the story of the
identification of the body of General Montgomery by his wife. This incident
is described by James Thompson in his Memoirs, and at the time they were
written, long after the event, Mrs. Prentice was a widow, and is so referred to.

In 1780 it was decided by St. Andrew's Lodge "to dine at Bro. Parks' with
a view that he should benefit thereby." The Lodge dined with the brethren
of Merchants' Lodge "but the smallness of the room rendered our feast rather
disagreeable, otherwise the day was spent with cheerfulness."

It was customary in those early days for the Lodges in Quebec to advise
each other of prospective candidates, as it was also in Montreal, but some
Lodge Secretaries did not always write as complete Minutes as they should
have done, or it would have been possible to add to the number of brethren
identified as members of the various Lodges. When the "Ancients" came into
power, this practice became a constitutional requirement.

—1042—

The siege of Quebec in 1775 seems to have but temporarily halted the
work of the Craft. On October 26th, 1775, St. Andrew's Lodge was closed
early "without going through the Lecture, as Palace Gate will be locked at 8
o'clock," and it did not meet again until the following June. In 1777, James
Thompson wrote to brethren at Detroit "We are in a flourishing state here
although our work was hindered by the siege and Blockade of the Rebels,
yet when that was raised, we renewed our vigour and are in the full blossom
of Love and Harmony,"

Membership

The following brethren were members of Merchants' Lodge, their member-
ship being established' by reference to the records of the Provincial Grand
Lodge, contemporary Lodge records and other sources : —

Aylwin, Thomas. When he came to Quebec has not been established,
but he is first noted in 1764. In 1767 he was appointed a Justice of the
Peace. In 1768 he was elected Grand Treasurer of the Provincial Grand
Lodge of Quebec. From 1770 to 1774 he was apparently a resident of Boston,
as on October 26th, 1770 he was present at a meeting of St. John's Grand
Lodge at Boston at which he is registered as "Grand Treasurer, Quebec
Lodge." On April 26th, 1771 he attended a meeting of St. John's Grand
Lodge, and is registered as Senior Warden of the Second Lodge. He also
attended the meetings of St. John's Grand Lodge on June 24th and December
27th, 1773, January 24th, February 11th and 25th, 1774. At this last meeting
he was appointed a member of a Committee to consider the formation of a
Charity Fund to which he subscribed a guinea. He is mentioned in John
Rowe's Diary under the dates December 27th, 1770, January 28th and
February 25th, 1774.

Probably scenting trouble to come, Aylwin returned to Quebec in 1774,
and on December 15th he joined St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 6 P.G.L. Quebec
(formerly the Lodge held in the 78th Regiment). He proposed Mr. Daniel
Bliss, who later became the Chief of the Commissariat Department, for
membership in St. Andrew's Lodge in 1776. The proposal was accepted and
Bliss was initiated on August 8th, 1776 "after it had been vouched that he
feared God and Honoured the King." A month later, Bro. Aylwin "com-
plained of Bro. Bliss for ill treatment, both parties were heard and judgement
is reserved for next Thursday," when it was announced that the dispute "was
determined amicably to the satisfaction of the Lodge, and to themselves.
Let Brotherly Love continue."

Bro. Aylwin was appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master of Quebec
in 1776, which office he held until 1781 or 1782. He appears to have been a
member of Merchants' Lodge as well as St. Andrew's Lodge. There had been
some discussion among the Quebec Lodges with regard to the Provincial
Grand Lodge Charity Fund, and at the St. John's Day celebration held on
June 24th, 1782, a deputation was received by St. Andrew's Lodge, headed
by the Past Deputy Provincial Grand Master — Thomas Aylwin. "Imme-

—1043—

diately on taking his seat Bro. Aylwin wished to know if St. Andrew's Lodge
intended to subscribe with the other Lodges or make a separate contribution."
The Worshipful Master (Dr. James Davidson) repHed that St. Andrew's
Lodge was "the only Lodge to subscribe at the last Feast, and that it would
withhold its decision until the subscription of the other Lodges had been
disclosed. Bro. Aylwin displayed considerable annoyance at this attitude,
and withdrew without giving the Lodge an opportunity of paying the usual
compliments to Merchants' Lodge, though he was earnestly requested to
remain." "It was observed that Bro. Aylwin's temper was in a manner
uncommon in a Lodge he has had the highest opinion of, and the Secretary
was directed to take down carefully what had passed lest he should be led
astray and misconstrue the Conduct of the Lodge." Notwithstanding what
had taken place St. Andrew's lodge decided to subscribe to the Fund, and a
sum of £4. 12. 2. Currency was collected for the purpose.

Thomas Aylwin was a well skilled Craftsman. In 1783 the members of
St. Andrew's and St. Patrick's Lodges memorialised the Provincial Grand
Master, John Collins, urging him to appoint a Deputy in the place of Colonel
McBean, whose military duties had taken him elsewhere, and recorded their
appreciation of his services as follows : — "That while our worthy Brother
Thomas Aylwin Esq., was under you at our head, he was indefatigable in the
Duties of his high office, and paid the greatest attention to every Lodge in
particular by which means he acquired a thorough knowledge of our ancient
customs, which afforded us the pleasing thought, not only of seeing you
exempted from the Laborious parts of the Great Trust, but ourselves made
familiar with our Duty as Individuals."

Birch, William. Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, 1782. Visited St. Andrew's
Lodge No. 6. on February 26th, 1782 with Bro. Charles Grant. "Their visit
was in form, being ordered to do so by their Lodge, who expects that we
shall do the same in return, with a View to hold that correspondence and
promote the brotherly esteem necessary to be observed amongst all the sons of
peace."

Blackwood, John. 1783. Merchant. He signed Rudyerd's Certificate in
1785 as a Past Master of the Lodge. He represented the Town of Quebec
in two Parliaments from April 9th, 1809 to February 20th, 1810.' He was a
partner in the North West Company, holding 3/16ths of the Capital. His
profits for 1787 were £4,625. a very substantial sum for those days.*

Blanchard, — Initiated August 13th, 1785. Under this date, Joseph Had-
field records in his Diary — "As usual we went to the Coffee House but
found very little Company, most of the gentlemen being at a Masonic Lodge
summoned for the purpose of making Blanchard and Sketchley members
who, as well as Hunter and myself, had been induced to enter as one of that
Society."* Blanchard was probably a visitor to Quebec, and did not become
a member of the Lodge.

'Quebec Literary and Historical Society. No. 15. p. 47.

^Campbell. The North West Company.

^An Englishman in America, 1795, being the Diary of Joseph Hadfield.

—1044-

Collier, Samuel. The Junior Warden of Select Lodge in 1761, as appears
from the Leslie Certificate.^" He was the Junior Grand Warden of the
Provincial Grand Lodge in the same year, and the Senior Grand Warden in
1762." Select Lodge surrendered its Warrant in 1768, when Collier probably
joined Merchants' Lodge.

Collins, John. Came to Quebec either with Wolfe's Army, or very shortly
thereafter, as he was established as a merchant there in 1760. He was
appointed Surveyor September 8th, 1764, became Deputy Surveyor-General
under Major Samuel Holland, and later Surveyor-General. He was a member
of the Legislative Council 1775-1778. He went to England in 1763 taking with
him the Memorial of the Quebec brethren to the Grand Lodge of England
for the appointment of a Provincial Grand Master, He was elected Provincial
Grand Master June 24th, 1765, and received a Patent of Appointment dated
November 2nd, 1767, holding the office until 1786. He is first identified as
a member of Merchants' Lodge in 1767. He visited St. Patrick's Lodge No.
4. P.G.L., New York at Jamestown, N.Y., on December 21st, 1771. In 1776
he was employed to survey the boundary between Canada and the Province of
New York. Professor Harpur of King's College, New York, was employed
by Sir Henry Moore, Governor of New York, to make the survey with him.
The surveyors were unable to agree on the location of the 45th parallel, and
Collins' line was accepted as he had used a superior quadrant. As a result
Canada lost four hundred square miles to New York. A re-survey was made
in 1815 when it was found that a fort built by the U.S.A., to protect their
country from invasion by the Canadians as had happened in 1812, was actually
on Canadian territory. An examination of the original American survey
records brought to light that its cost included Fifty Pounds for wages, and
Thirty Pounds for Rum and Madeira. The amount of wages appears to be
high. Collins died on April 15th, 1795. Collins Street, Quebec, is named
after him.

Curotte, Charles. Merchant. Born in Montreal. He may have been a
member of Merchants' Lodge. He joined St. Peter's Lodge in 1768. He
died in 1771.

Danford, Jacob. Visited St. Andrew's Lodge in 1782, and in the Minutes
he is described as a member of Merchants' Lodge.

Davidson, Dr. James. It is not known when or where he was initiated.
He joined St. Andrew's Lodge No. 6 in 1781, was elected Master on June
13th, 1782 in which year he was also elected Grand Junior Warden of the
Provincial Grand Lodge. In December 1783, the Minutes of St. Andrew's
Lodge record that "Brothers Davidson and Lynd having very abruptly left the
Lodge and Joined No. 1, sent an apology and the Lodge is satisfied with the
motives that induced them to it." Davidson signed Rudyerd's Certificate in
1785 as Past Master.

loRobertson, History of Freemasonry in Canada. Vol. 1-166.
"AQC LXVIII-20. 22.

—1045—

Davidson, Thomas. A Thomas Davidson signed the By-laws of Merch-
ants' Lodge. He appears to have been a member of St. Patrick's Lodge from
1770 to 1777, and was the Tyler of St. Andrew's Lodge in 178L He may have
also been the Tyler of Merchants' Lodge.

Fortier, — The Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge dated May 22nd, 1777,
record that "Mr. Fortier, of this place, Merchant, proposed himself as a
Candidate, but this Lodge considering him as a young gentleman, not so steady
as he ought to be, Rejected him." However, on August 12th, 1784 he visited
the Lodge as a member of Merchants' Lodge, by which time, it is hoped, he
had settled down.

Fraser, Roderick. There were so many Frasers in the City of Quebec
that they formed their own Society, and to identify any of them is a matter
of difficulty. Roderick Fraser attended St. Andrew's Lodge as a Visitor from
Merchants' Lodge in 1784.

Gereant, — Visited St. Andrew's Lodge as a member of Merchants'
Lodge in 1784.

Graefe, Lieutenant Augustine. This Officer was serving in one of the
Hessian Regiments but which one has not been ascertained. Bro, R. V.
Harris says he was not, however, serving in the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment.
He first appears as a member of Merchants' Lodge when he visited St.
Andrew's Lodge in 1782, but it is not known whether he became a member
of Merchants' Lodge by initiation or affiliation. In July or August of 1783,
the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec conferred honorary titles on General
Redeasel, Brigadier-General Speight and Lieutenant Graefe "in order to
entitle them to a Seat in the Germanick Grand Lodges," and the Secretary
of St. Andrew's Lodge notes "which has brought an expense of 11/10 to this
Lodge." Graham^^ suggests that the title was that of Honorary Deputy Pro-
vincial Grand Master, but it is believed he had no more information than is
provided by the Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge. Graham also has difficulty
with Graefe's rank, describing him as "Lieutenant", "Captain", "Colonel", and
"Count", but all the references to him consulted indicate that he was a Lieu-
tenant. When the Deputy Provincial Grand Master, Colonel McBane, left
Quebec in 1784, Bro. Graefe appears to have been appointed to the office in an
acting capacity. He attended St. Andrew's Lodge in his official capacity
on February 12th, 1784. The Minutes record "It was the design of the Lodge
to have raised to the Sublime Degree, such of the Fellow Crafts as were
found qualified and those who pray'd for it the night before, had not the
Grand Officers honoured us with a formal Visit ; So soon as they took their
Seats, the Fellow Crafts and Prentices were ordered below stairs, the Prentice's
Lodge was closed and that of a Master was opened by the Right Worshipful
Brother Graefe . . . He wished to hear a Lecture on the Third Degree, a
short one was given, the Lodge was closed, the Grand Officers resigned
their seats, and our Master, Bliss, opened again the former Lodge, then the
Fellow Crafts and Prentices were called up."

^Graham, Outlines of History of Freemasonry in Quebec.

—1046—

Bro. Graefe visited Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge, London,
on 28th February, 1785, and the Minutes of the meeting of that Lodge held
on the 26th December, 1785 contain the following: — "A letter was received
and read from Bro. Augustine Graefe, Esq., dated 4th October, 1785, requesting
that the Lodge would accept as a Token of his respectful Attachment to the
Brethren of this Lodge a new collection of Masonic Hymns and Songs set to
music, with a Cantata as performed in the Lodge at Brunswick on the so
much lamented death of his late Seren Highness Prince Leopold of Brunswick,
a Member of that Lodge, and Master of the Lodge at Frankfort, who was
unfortunately Drowned in effecting the Preservation of two Peasants from a
Motive of Humanity, who otherwise would have perished from a Sudden
Inundation." The Secretary was ordered to write a letter of thanks to Bro.
Graefe, a copy of which is added to the Minutes.

In 1785, Bro. Graefe was the representative of the Grand Lodge of
England for Germany in which capacity he wrote a short outline of the
history of the Craft in Hamburg to Bro. White, the Grand Secretary."

In 1786 Graefe played an important part in the re-instatement of the
Provincial Grand Lodge of the Electorate of Hanover and British Dominions
in Germany. The Lodge of the Black Bear holding the Warrant No. 486
E.R., was re-constituted, and with the members of the Lodge, Frederick
of the White Horse joined in re-establishing the Provincial Grand Lodge.^'
Von Exter was constituted Provincial Grand Master and installed into office
by Bro. Graefe on August 24th, 1786.^^

Gfant, Charles. One of the leading merchants in the City of Quebec.
He was- the Master of Merchants' Lodge at some time or other, and was
elected Treasurer of the Provincial Grand Lodge in 1771, a post he held until
1780, when he was appointed by Governor Haldimand to report on the fur
trade, travelling widely in the West and North West to visit the trading
posts to obtain the information required." He was one of the petitioners for
a Royal Arch Warrant in 1780, but James Thompson says such a Warrant
was not obtained until 1782.

Grant, Cuthbert. A son of one of the partners of the North West Fur
Trading Company, who served the Company in the capacity of "Clerk." He
was in the Red River Valley in the exciting days of the struggle between
the Nor'westers and the Hudson Bay Company, and "Clerk" seems a very
simple title to embrace his many duties, responsibilities and activities. He
was formerly a member of Merchants' Lodge, was "healed" from Modern to
Ancient Freemasonry in 1791, and joined Lodge No. 241 E.R.(A) (now St.
John's Lodge ).^*

Hadfield, Joseph. The son of a wealthy English merchant who came
to Canada and the U.S.A., to collect debts due to his father. He left England

i^Oxford. History of Royal Somerset House and Inverness Lodge.

"A.Q.C. IX-151.

^Lane, Masonic Records p. 111.

leA.Q.C. IX-149.

"Campbell, The North West Company.

J«ibid.

—1047—

in November 1784, and was in Quebec in July and August 1785." Hadfield
was initiated in Merchants' Lodge on August 15th, 1785, and he wrote in his
Diary : — "This evening Mr. Hunter and myself were made Masons and like
a decent one I shall say no more. We remained at the Hotel very late in
company of 30 brethren, and spent a very agreeable evening." His reticence
is most praiseworthy, but it is a matter of regret that he had not been a
little indiscreet. He did not become a member of the Lodge as three days
later he returned to England.*

Halstead, John. Commissary of Provisions at Quebec. He was Secretary
of the Lodge in 1768-9. He is among those listed by Lord Dorchester when
reporting to the British Government as having zealously served the cause
of the rebels in 1775-6.*"

Hancock, John. The first signatory to the Declaration of Independence
which bears the date July 4th, 1776. He was born at Quincy, Massachusetts
on January 12th, 1737. He graduated from Harvard and was trained in
business by his uncle who bequeathed him a large fortune. On a business
trip to Quebec he was initiated in Merchants' Lodge on January 26th, 1762.
He affiliated with Lodge St. Andrew, Boston on October 14th, 1762. On
the night of November 30th, 1773, the Secretary of Lodge St. Andrew wrote
in the Minutes : — "N.B. The consignees of Tea took up the Brethren's
time." Hancock died in 1793.^

Hallowell (or Hollowell), James. The only reference to this Brother
is in the Minutes of St. Peter's Lodge, Montreal, dated September 30th,
1789 where it is recorded that "A letter was read from Merchants' Lodge,
Quebec, informing the Lodge of the expulsion of Bro. Hollowell from their
lodge which was ordered to be entered on the Minutes."

Hunter, — Initiated August 15th, 1785. See Hadfield's Diary noted

under Blanchard and Hadfield.

Hunter, John. Under the date, December 10th, 1778, the Minutes of St.
Andrew's Lodge, Quebec, record that "The petition of Mr. John Hunter
was sent hither from the Merchants' Lodge for approbation, and no objection
was made." Presumably, therefore, he was initiated in 1778 or 1779.

Jones, John. Is described as a Past Master in a Certificate issued in
1785. Presumably he is the same brother who was Grand Secretary of the
Provincial Grand Lodge in 1787,"" and who joined No. 241 E.R.(A) in 1788,
and is then described as a merchant. Certainty of the identification of a "John
Jones" is impossible.

Leonard, Timothy. In the Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge under date
September 14th, 1780 it is recorded: — "The petition of Timothy Leonard

i»See the entry in his Diary quoted in the note on Blanchard.

*Trans. American Lodge of Research. Vol. 11-280.

"Suite. History of Quebec.

22Rice & Brown. Masonic Membership of Signers of the Declaration of Independence.

1958.
■'Robertson, Freemasonry in Canada. Vol. 1-286.

—1048—

to the Merchants' Lodge No, 1 was sent from that Lodge hither for appro-
bation, but as the Petition set forth his services as Tyler only, some of the
Brethren, scrupulous of the legality of such a prayer, put their Negative to
it." It is not clear if the St. Andrew's brethren objected to the petition
because Leonard was to be employed as Tyler, or if they thought the
initiation of a serving brother was a matter for Merchants' Lodge alone to
decide. In the absence of any Minutes it is not possible to establish what
action was taken by Merchants' Lodge, and no other trace of Timothy
Leonard has been found in contemporary records.

Leslie, James. Lieutenant in the 15th Regiment who was wounded
prior to September 2nd, 1759 as noted by Captain John Knox in his Journal.
According to the Certificate issued at Quebec on April 12th, 1761, Leslie was
initiated and passed in Lodge No. 1., Quebec, and raised in Select Lodge.*'
Robertson who reproduces the Certificate says the No. 1 may have been
Merchants' Lodge "or, for aught we know, the provincial number of Lodge
No. 245 on the Irish Register in the 15th Regiment of Foot." It has since
been established that No. 245 I.C., did not receive a local number. If the
Lodges bore local numbers according to their numerical seniority No. 245 I.C.,
would have been numbered "3" and the No. 1 would have been assigned to
No. 192 I.e., held in the 47th Regiment. As all the regimental Lodges, except
No. 192 I.e., had left Quebec by the time the Certificate was issued, it would
seem highly probable that the No. 1 refers to Merchants' Lodge. Further-
more, it seems most unlikely if Leslie had been initiated in the Irish Lodge,
that the Irish number would not have appeared on the Certificate.

Lindsay, William, Junior. He was healed from Modern to Ancient Free-
masonry and joined No. 241 E.R. (A) (now St. John's Lodge) in 1791, and
in the same year he was a member of Merchants' Lodge No. 265 E.R. (A).
Lymbumer, Adam. An importer. Although some sources say that he
came to Canada in 1770, he is on record as visiting St. Andrew's Lodge on
April 6th, 1769, so presumably he was made a Mason in England. He signed
the Rudyerd Certificate as Senior Warden in 1785. In 1787 he went to
England and discharged a commission entrusted to him by the Quebec brethren
besides presenting the views of the Quebec merchants to the British Govern-
ment on the proposed new Constitution. In 1791 he was again in England to
suggest amendments to the draft Constitution shortly to be promulgated by the
Home authorities. His able speech will be found in The Canadian Review,
Montreal. He retired from business about 1810, and returned to England,
where he continued to take a keen interest in Canadian affairs. He died in 1836.

Lynd, John. Initiated in St. Andrew's Lodge in 1778, and Master of that
Lodge in 1782. He demitted in 1783, and affiliated with Merchants' Lodge.
See note on Davidson.

McBean, (or McBane), Forbes. A Colonel in the Royal Artillery, and
appointed Deputy Provincial Grand Master in 1783. He was an active member
of the Craft, and when he left Quebec in May of that year the brethren of St.
Andrew's and St. Patrick's Lodges said that "his Military service calling
him from hence prevents his giving that aid which his heart would rejoice in."
•^Robertson, History of Freemasonry in Canada. Vol. 1-166.

—1049—

Adam Lymburner

McCarthy, Jeremiah. There were two Jeremiah McCarthy's in Quebec,
and both surveyors. It is assumed that it was the father who was a member
of Merchants' Lodge from 1786 to 1792, in which year he was "healed" from
Modern to Ancient Freemasonry in Lodge No. 213 E.R.(A) (now Albion
Lodge). He was not commissioned as a Surveyor until September 14th, 1795.

McNider, William. An importer, and a Director of the Bank of Canada
in 1819. When he became a member of Merchants' Lodge is not known,
but he was "healed" from Modern to Ancient Freemasonry in 1791, and
joined No. 241. E.R.(A) (now St. John's Lodge).

Minot, Jonas Clarke. Appears to have been a member from 1767 to
1770. He served on a Committee of the Provincial Grand Lodge in 1767.

—1050-

He is listed by Lord Dorchester when reporting to the British Government
as being among those who had zealously served the cause of the rebels in
1775-6.*^ He was probably made a Mason in Boston as he attended St. John's
Lodge, Boston, on June 24th, 1763. After the Revolution, or during it, he
returned to Boston and is shown as attending St. John's Lodge on January
8th. 1784.".

Patterson, John. A merchant. A member from 1766 to 1770. He joined
No. 241 E.R.(A) (St. John's Lodge) in 1811. He was in England from
time to time, and was instrumental in obtaining a situation for John Gawler
in a brewery. He thought very highly of Gawler. In 1766, the Quebec
brethren wrote a letter to Bro. Patterson then in London — "The high
esteem the Brethren has of your Love to the Craft, has pointed you to them
as the only proper Person to accomplish their Desires with regard to the
Long-expected Deputation to our acting Deputy Grand Master, therefore
they beg you will be pleased to do them the Great Kindness to be the bearer
of the inclosed to the Grand Lodge, together with their donations amounting
to Five Pounds, three shillings and sixpence Sterling towards the General
Charity which you will receive from Brother Ogier: and they beg you will
be pleased to inform the Right Worshipful Grand Master or his Deputy of
their Great uneasiness at their great Disappointment in not receiving their
Grand authority which is so absolutely necessary in this place to unite Travel-
ling (Lodges) to themselves and inspecting into their behaviour, and to Cause
all to act in an uniform masonlike manner for the General Good of the
Craft which their present authority Given their acting Deputy Provincial Grand
Master and his Wardens by the uniting Lodges in this City Cannot extend to,
therefore hopes the Right Worshipful will be pleased to take their Case into
his wise Consideration and Grant another Dispensation to the present acting
Deputy Provincial Grand Master and his Officers (as they fear the former
one is lost with their unfortunate brethren that were Drown'd in Coming
up here last Spring who had promised to bring it) and which they beg you
will procure soon enough to bring it out yourself,"

Reed, — (or Reid). A member in 1783, when he visited St. Andrew's
Lodge. In the absence of any initials in the record, no further identification
seems possible.

Robertson, William. Initiated in St. Andrew's Lodge, December 10th,
1778, and Junior Warden in 1782. He was suspended in August 1783 "not
having appeared this night after having been served with a particular summons
. . . until he gives his Lodge ample satisfaction, and the Secretary is instructed
to inform the other Lodges therewith." Before the end of the year, Robertson
had joined Merchants' Lodge and the Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge record
that the Secretary "having through too much delicacy neglected, or rather
declined to inform our sister Lodges of the suspension ... he was received,
as we are informed, nem. con., of Merchants' Lodge. The Secretary was
therefore again ordered to inform that Lodge of Bro. Robertson's suspension,

*5Sulte. History of Quebec.

»Proc. G.L. Mass. 1733-92. p. 85, 312.

—1051—

and we are persuaded that they will make him sensible of his Error, and
reprove him as in their prudence they see meet." No further reference is
found to the matter, and it may be hoped that the difficulties whatever they
may have been were adjusted amicably.

Rudyerd, Henry. Captain, Royal Engineers. Initiated in Lodge St.
George, No. 108 S.C., held in the 31st Regiment, passed and raised in Unity
Lodge No. 13 P.G.L. Quebec, at Richilieu (Sorel) and Master of that Lodge
in 1783. He was a member of Merchants' Lodge from 1783 to 1785. He was
a Charter Member of Rainsford Lodge No. 18 P.G.L. Quebec, held in the
44th Regiment, warranted in 1785. There is also a Certificate in existence
dated August 10th, 1785 issued by a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons at
Quebec to him, and also signed by him as "J"- He visited St. Andrew's
Lodge, Quebec on November 29th, 1783, when he is described as Lieutenant.
His Certificates were in the Wallace Heaton Collection.

Russell, Robert. A member in 1785-6. (Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge).
Sketchley, Thomas. Initiated August 13th, 1785. He was one of the
group mentioned by Hadfield in his Diary. See notes on Blanchard and
Hadfield.

Thomas, — Mentioned as a member of Merchants' Lodge in 1783
in the Minutes of St. Andrew's Lodge.

Walker, Joseph. A member in 1760. He was Grand Senior Warden of
the Provincial Grand Lodge in 1761, Deputy Provincial Grand Master in
1762, Provincial Grand Master 1764. He served as Deputy Provincial Grand
Master in 1765-6. He died in 1766.

MERCHANTS' LODGE No. 241 ("ANCIENTS")

In the year 1790 some of the members of the original Merchants' Lodge
("Moderns"), with some of the members of St. Andrew's Lodge ("Moderns")
petitioned the Grand Lodge of England ("Ancients") for a Warrant to con-
stitute a Lodge. The petition was granted, and at a meeting of Lodge No.
241 E.R.(A) held on June 8th, 1791, Bros. James Davidson, John Lynd and
Andrew Cameron who had formerly been members of St. Andrew's Lodge,
were installed as the Master and Wardens of the new Lodge which later
became known as Merchants' Lodge. This installation was conducted under
the authority of a "Deputation" from the Grand Lodge to open a Grand
Lodge, deliver the Warrant and erect the new Lodge. The Warrant had been
issued in the previous December — the precise date is unknown — and was
-registered under the No. 265.

The institution of the new Merchants' Lodge under the "Ancients" appears
to have written 'finis' to the activities of the older Merchants' Lodge and
also St. Andrew's Lodge, although there seems reason to believe that the
original Merchants' Lodge continued to survive until 1792.

1052—

In August 1791 H.R.H. Prince Edward, later the Duke of Kent, came
to Quebec with his Regiment, the Seventh, or Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,
and in December the three Ancient Lodges in Quebec, having first obtained
his permission, forwarded a Petition to the Grand Lodge of England
("Ancients") praying for his appointment as Provincial Grand Master. The
petition was granted, and His Royal Highness was installed on June 22nd, 1792.

Remnants of the old Modern Lodges attended this installation, and their
presence was the subject of discussion at a meeting of Lodge No. 9 E.R. (A)
who wrote to the Deputy Provincial Grand Master of the new Provincial
Grand Lodge of Lower Canada enquiring if "Bro. Grant and the rest of the
Grand Officers of the Modern Grand Lodge had been regularly dealt with and
healed to Ancient Masonry according to Ancient custom. Tho' we cannot
entertain the smallest doubt (after introducing the different Antient Lodges
into their Company, and what passed in their presence last St. John's Day)
but that the above must undoubtedly have been the case, still we conceive a
positive answer to the above question absolutely necessary from the Grand
Lodge that we may govern ourselves accordingly."

Unfortunately, the answer to this very interesting question has not come
to light.

The letter clearly indicates that the mode of working in the Modern
Lodges had been changed some time after James Thompson had written to
Bro. Peters in 1785, probably soon after the arrival in Quebec of Lodge No.
213 E.R. (A) held in the Royal Artillery. When this Battalion of Royal
Artillery came up from New York in 1783, it was divided, two companies
going to Nova Scotia, one to Newfoundland, one to Jamaica, and four to
"Canada." War Office records do not show any companies of the Battalion in
Quebec until 1785, so that the Lodge could not have met in Quebec until that
year.

Warrant No. 40 (E.R.) Ancients

In December 1791, the new Merchants' Lodge purchased for a contribution
of Five Guineas to the General Charity the vacant No. 40 E.R. (A) which
had originally been issued on August 20th, 1755 to establish a Lodge meeting
at The Cock, Warrington, Lancashire, and which apparently lapsed in the
following year.

In the days vyhen the two Festivals were celebrated by public processions
of the Lodges, and when the funeral of a brother was attended by all the
Lodges in town, the order in which the Lodges took their places was decided
by their precedence on the Roll. One can well imagine that there would be
some muttering in the ranks of Lodge No. 241 E.R. (A) as the Lodge which
they had themselves instituted, marched before it, because it had been able
to purchase its precedence for cash. This incident emphasises the difference
between seniority and precedence on the roll, a difference which must be
constantly born in mind by the Masonic student, and which has been the
cause of many misunderstandings and disputes during the years.

—1053—

By-Laws

A few years ago a book in the archives of the Grand Lodge of Quebec
containing the Minutes of Murray Lodge No. 13 P.G.L.L.C, at River Duquesne
was examined. In the back of the book were the signatures of a number
of brethren and some By-laws, It was evident that these brethren were never
members of Murray Lodge, and on closer examination it was found that the
By-laws were those of Merchants' Lodge, and the signatures those of its
members who had subscribed to them. How the book got to River Duchesne
and put to its later use has not been explained, but it was a fortunate
discovery.

The By-laws which are dated 1805 provide that the Lodge was to be
held at Sturch's Tavern, and that "every Brother shall appear in clean, decent
apparel with proper Clothing and observe a due Decorum while the Lodge is
engaged in what is serious and solemn." Any member "absent one Hour
after the appointed time of Meeting" was to be fined One shilling and three-
pence, "and if absent the whole night or time of Business he shall be fined
Five shillings unless such Absentee furnish a sufficient appollogy, or be sick,
Lame, in Confinement, or upwards of three Miles from the place of Meeting."
Fines were to be used for the benefit of indigent brethren. Elections were
to be held on the stated Lodge night before each St. John's Day. The Wardens
were to stand as candidates for the Chair. The Master-Elect nominated his
Wardens and other Officers, but the Master and Brethren were to nominate
an opposition candidate for each office. There is a notation that in 1811 the
Grand Lodge of England had resolved that "no Brother shall be elected
Master of any Lodge unless he shall have acted for Twelve Months at least
as Warden in said Lodge," and also "That no Brother shall be entitled to
the privileges of a Past Master until he shall have served full twelve months
as Master in the Chair of the Lodge." The Master and Wardens were to
attend, "when Summonded," Grand Lodge and the Stewards* Lodge — the
latter then apparently functioning as a Committee of Grand Lodge.

The names of those proposed as members were to be submitted to the other
Lodges in Town for their approbation. All the members were to dine together
on St. John's Day, and "each member (whether present or absent) and Visitors
(not Guests)" were to pay an equal proportion of the expenses of the day.
Visitors (Master Masons only) were permitted to be present at the opening
of the Lodge if introduced by a member, and they were not to be admitted
at any time during Lodge hours without the consent of the majority present.
No brother not a member of one of the Lodges in Town was permitted to
visit a second time. The fees were originally Three pounds, plus five shillings
for registration, and these were later increased to Six Guineas, plus Fifteen
shillings and fivepence for registration. For affiliation the original fee was
Half a Guinea, plus Two shillings which was increased to One Guinea and
Two shillings and a penny in 1813.

—1054—

The By-laws were to be constantly read in open Lodge "that the Antient
Craft may be transmitted to future times possessed of that respectability it has
ever maintained." By-law 11 provided "If any Brother in this Lodge curse,
swear or offer to lay Wagers, or use any reproachful language in derogation of
God's Name, or Corruption of good Manners or interrupt any Officer while
speaking, He shall be fined at the Discretion of the Master and Majority,"
By-law 12 provided "If any Member of this Lodge come disguised in Liquor,
he shall be admonished (by the Presiding Officer) for the first offence: for
the second of the same nature he shall be fined One Shilling, and for the third,
he shall be excluded and reported to the Grand Lodge." By-law 14 provided
"that on a Lodge night, in the Master's absence, the Past Master may take his
place, and in his absence the Senior Warden, and in his absence the Junior
Warden." There is a marginal note against this By-law "It is the undoubted
right of the Wardens to fill the Chair, even tho' a former Master be present,
but the Wardens generally wave this privilege upon a supposition that the Past
Masters are best acquainted with the business of the Lodge." The Tyler was
to receive Five Shillings "for his attendance and Summoning the Members
each Lodge night." All members were to contribute One Shilling yearly to
the Grand Lodge Fund or General Charity.

The following have been identified as members of Merchants' Lodge,
under the "Ancients" : —

AHERN, H. B. 1806.

ANDERSON, DAVID 1806. Dep. G. Secy. PGLLC. 1815.

? G. Sec. 1816.
ANDERSON, W. L 1811.

ARMSTRONG, ROBERT I. 1816.

ARMSTRONG, W. A. 1820. CMRA. 1955. (2) 14.

AYLWIN, CHARLES F. I. 1815.

BACKWELL, WILLIAM I. 1802.

BAILEY, T. MICHAEL I. 1811. Dep. G. Sec. PGLLC. 1812.

BAILEY, W. I. 1816.

BARDON, WILLIAM I. 1810.

BELL, JAMES 1800.

BELL, WILLIAM M. I. 1814.

BELLINGHAM, ALAN 1800.

BERTHELET, MICHEL I. 1809.

G.P. PGLLC. 1809. G.S.D. PGLLC. 1810. Charter member

Freres du Canada Lodge. 1816.
BESSERER, R. L. I. 1807.

BOG, DAVID 1813. Field Train Department.

BOLTON, JAMES L 1811. G.S.D. PGLLC. 1812, 1819.

Dep. G. Sec. PGLLC. 1819.
BOWEN, EDWARD I. 1802. G. Treas. PGLLC. 1804.

J.G.W. PGLLC. 1806.

—1055—

BRAYBROOKE, WILLIAM I. 1815.

BRITTAIN, JAMES I. 1814.

BUCHANAN, JOHN I. 1806. ? Surgeon, 49th Regiment.

BUFFA, JOHN 1800.

BULLOCK, RICHARD I. 1803. Lieut. 41st Regiment.

BULLOCK, RICHARD I. 1817. Capt. 103rd Regiment.

BURN, J. THOMAS 1824.

Storekeeper, Engineers' Dept. Expelled. 1824. Reinstated.
G.Sd.Br. QTR. 1828.
BURNS, THOMAS 1825. Expelled.

Expelled. 1824. Reinstated.
G.Sd.Br. QTR. 1828.
CAMERON, ANDREW 1791.

Charter member. J. St. Andrew's Lodge 1772. Dem. from St.
Andrew's 1774. Re-joined 1775. Demitted 1785. Bought
Freemasons' Hall 1790.
CAMERON, A. I. 1805.

CAMPBELL, MOSES I. 1814. G.J.D. PGLLC. 1814.

CARMEL, JOSEPH I. 1805.

CHAMBERS, ROBERT 1794.

Charter member No. 241 E.R.(A) 1788. Charter member Select
Surveyors Lodge. 1793.
CHARLTON, THOMAS I. 1812.

CHESSELL, CHARLES 1819.

CHICOU, dit DUVERT, L. I. 1810.

CHRISTIE, THOMAS L 1814.

COATES, JOHN I. 1809.

COULSON, FRANCIS J. 1806.

J. No. 241. E.R.(A) prior to 1793. G.S.D., PGLLC. 1806.
G. Treas. PGLLC. 1808-10. D.P.G.M. 1811-16.
CUPPAGE, ABSOLOM I. 1812.

DAVIDSON, Dr. JAMES 1791. Charter member.

Charter member. J. St. Andrew's Lodge 1781. Demitted 1783.
J. Merchants' Lodge (M). 1783. G. Sec. PGLLC. 1792-5.
G.J.W. PGLLC. 1795.
DAVIDSON, JOHN I. 1806.

DAVIDSON, THOMAS ? St. Patrick's Lodge 1770-7.

Tyler, St. Andrew's Lodge.
1781.
DELAMARE, LOUIS I. 1803. ? Master in ?

DENECHAU, CLAUDE J. 1803.

"Healed" in St. Paul's Lodge, Montreal 1800 Merchant. Sec.
Union Hotel. Sec. Quebec Fire Society. G. Treas. PGLLC. 1801.
GJW. PGLLC. 1804. G.S.W. 1806-11. P.G.M. QTR. 1820-36.
Died 1836.
DE TONNANCOUR, CHARLES

Asst. Adjutant-General. G.J.D. PGLLC. 1818. J. Freres du
Canada Lodge 1819.

—1056—

DICKENSON, RICHARD 1800.

Capt. Royal Artillery. Past Master. G.J.W. PGLLC. 1796-7.

G.S.W. PGLLC. 1799-1800.
D'ESTIMAUVILLE,

(See ESTIMAUVILLE)
DOBER, J. T. T. I. 1806.

DONALD, — 1801. Visitor to Select Surveyors'

Lodge.
DOUCET, PIERRE 1804.

Justice of the Peace. 1786. Union Lodge No. 8. Montreal.

1810. G., Treas. PGLLC. 1814-18.
DOWNES, WILLIAM 1806. G. Sec. PGLLC 1813.

DOWNES, WILLIAM 1819.

DUKE, — 1800.

Capt. 26th Regiment. P.M.
DUVETTE, FRANCIS I. 1806. Merchant.

DWIGHT, J. I. 1817.

EDGECOMBE, THOMAS 1813.

EDGEWORTH, — 1800. Leut. 6th Regiment.

ENGLISH, CHARLES 1818.

ESTIMAUVILLE, J. B. P. C. I. 1808.

Brother of Robert Anne. Roadmaster. J. Freres du Canada
Lodge. G. Treas. QTR. 1821.

ESTIMAUVILLE, ROBERT ANNE 1809.

Brother of J.B.P.C. Born Louisbourg 1754. Deputy Road-
master. 1813. Surveyor. 1817. Constable of Quebec. 1822.
Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod. 1823. Justice of the Peace.
1823. Published Cursory View of the Local, Social, Moral and
Political State of the Colony of Lower Canada. 1829. J. Freres
du Canada Lodge. G. St. Br. PGLLC. 1819. G. Sec. PGLLC.
1820. G.J.W. PGLLC. 1821. G. Sec. QTR. 1821. G.J.W. QTR.
1822.

EVANS, JOHN 1800.

FARRANTS, JAMES I. 1813. Drum Major. 103rd Regiment.

G.J.D. PGLLC. 1815.

FEBRITH, G. I. 1821. Clerk, Engineering Dept.

FERGUSON, A. I. 1805.

FEY, LEWIS 1800.

FITZGIBBON, JAMES 1803.

Adjutant 49th Regiment. G.J.D. PGLLC. 1806. D.P.G.M.
PGLUC. 1822. Biography. Robertson, History of Freemasonry
in Canada. Vol. 11-164, 171.

FOSTER, ANDREW 1800.

ERASER, JAMES 1818. G. Sec. PGLLC. 1817.

ERASER, J. I. 1816.

GALBRAITH, JAMES JOYNT I. 1812.

—1057—

GARRETT, EDWARD
GAY, JOSEPH
GERVIN, RALPH ROSS
GIBSONE, WILL.

I. 1808.

L 1821.

1800.

I. 1810.

Head of the military settlement at Drummondville. Sec. 1813.
GILMORE, ROBERT L 1808.

GODARD, J. M. 1800.

GORDON, JOHN I. 1818. G. St. QTR. 1820.

GOWIN, HAMMOND L 1809.

GRAHAM, HENRY L 1815.

GRANT, THOMAS L 1800.

GRIFFEN, FREDERICK I. 1819.

Lawyer. J. St. Paul's Lodge, Montreal 1821. Master 1830.

G.D.C. M&WH. 1827-8. G.S.W. M&WH. 1832-4. Dep. G. Sec.

M&WH. 1829. G. Treas. M&WH. 1830. D.P.G.M. M&WH.

1854.

HAMILTON, G. L.
HANNA, JAMES G.
HARE, JOHN
HASWELL, JOHN
HAYS, —

HEATHFIELD, M.
HEDLEY, RICHARD
HERON, T. B. A.
HEULIN, EDWARD
HIGHFIELD, CHARLES
HINCKES, JAMES
HOBBS, WILLIAM
HOLMES, Dr. WILLIAM

HUNTER, FRANCIS

IRWIN, RALPH ROSS

JENITH, WILLIAM
JOHNSTONE, JAMES
JOHNSTONE, HENRY

KELSON, C.

KLENSENDORFF, WM. L. C.
KOLLNAR, EDWARD

LANGEVIN, CHARLES
LANGUEDOC, FRANCIS
LANGUEDOC, JOSEPH
LANGWORTHY, WILLIAM
LATERRIER, P.
LAVESY, WILLIAM B.

1800.

1809.
1791.

1805.

Lieut. ]

Royal Navy.

1803.

Visitor to Zion Lodge No. 10,

Detroit.

1817.

1813.

Master

Mariner.

1806.

1816.

1812.
1813.

1800.

G.J.W.

PGLLC. 1799.

D.P.G.M. PGLLC. 1804-11.

1812.
1800.

1813.

Master

Mariner.

1806.
1800.

1814.

Lieut.

103 rd Regiment.

1814.

1816.

1811.

1809.

1813.
1800.

1808.

1815.

—1058—

LEBLOND, JOSEPH I. 1811.

Charter member Freres du Canada Lodge 1816. Demitted 1819.

LENNON, HENRY J. 1807. 29th Regiment.

From Lodge No. 322 LC.
LESY, CHARLES DE 1800.

LEWIS, RALPH ROSS 1800.

LINDSAY, WILLIAM Past Master.

LINDSAY, WILLIAM Junior J. 1791.

From No. 241 E.R.(A). G. Treas. PGLLC. 1796. G. Sec.

PGLLC. 1797-1806. Demitted 1819.

LOFT, JOSEPH 1818.

LOFT, HERMAN ' I. 1817. Demitted 1819.

LYND, JOHN 1791.

Charter member. Init. St. Andrev/s Lodge 1778. Demitted
1783. J. Merchants' Lodge (M) 1783. G. Treas. PGLLC. 1792,
G.J.W. PGLLC. 1793. G.S.W. PGLLC. 1795. D.P.G.M.
PGLLC. 1799-1801.

McCABE, WILLIAM 1813. 4th Royal Veterans' Battalion.

McCALLUM, JOHN I. 1812. Demitted 1819.

McCANCE, WILLIAM J. 1812.

From No 241 E.R.(A). G.J.W. PGLLC. 1813-14. G.S.W.

PGLLC. 1815.

McDonald, d. c. 1793.

G.S.D. PGLLC. 1814. J. St. Paul's Lodge, Montreal in 1819.

McDonald, william i. 18I6.

Lieut. 10th Regiment. J. Wellington Persevering Lodge,
Montreal. 1818. J. St. Paul's Lodge, Montreal in 1820. Importer.

McNIDER, WILLIAM "Healed" in No. 241 E.R.(A)

in 1791.

McCAULEY, S. I. 1819.

MacGILL, ANDREW I. 1822.

MacNIDER, ADAM L. I. 1810.

MAPLETON, DAVID I. 1805. Royal Navy.

MARCHAND, GABRIEL I. 1806.

MASSUE, L. I. 1810.

MEIKLEJOHN, JOHN I. 1812. G. Pur. PGLLC. 1812.

MILLER, C. I. 1816.

MITCHELL, JAMES I. 1806.

MONK, CHARLES E. I. 1816.

MOOREHEAD, JOHN I. 1810.

MORRIS, ANDREW I. 1819.

MORRISON, D. I. 1819.

MORRISON, GEORGE I. 1819. G.J.D. PGLLC. 1821.

G.J.D. QTR. 1822.

MURDOCH, J. T. I. 1816.
NIXON, — 1794.

—1059—

NORTON, — 1814.

Captain. Leader of the Five Nations. The Lodge presented

him with a plaque in 1814.
O'HARA, WILLIAM 1794. J. No. 302 E.R.(A). 1814.

OLIVA, FREDERICK I. 1816.

J. Freres du Canada Lodge in 1816. G. St. QTR. 1820-21.

D.P.G.M. QTR. 1827.
O'REILLY, THOMAS 1802. Lieut. 6th Regiment.

PALMER, G. I. 1817.

PALMER, MATTHEW 1819.

PARYS, WILLIAM M. I. 1815.

PERRAULT, J. Jr. I. 1809.

PERRAULT, J. F. X. 1800.

Born in Montreal 1784. Son of J. F. Perrault. Called to the
Bar but did not practise as a lawyer. Capt. Regiment of
Voltigeurs, and took part in Battle of Chateauguay. Colonel
of Artillery, Quebec. Prothonotary, Quebec 1795. Charter
member Freres du Canada Lodge 1816. G.J.W. PGLLC. 1811.
G.S.W. PGLLC. 1818. D.P.G.M. PGLLC. 1819-20. D.P.G.M.
QTR. 1820-22 His portrait was engraved by Ledroit. Died
in 1853.

PERRIN, THOMAS M. 1800.

PETRE, SAMUEL (or PETRIE) I. 1812.
PETRIE, J. 1813.

PHILLIPS, WILLIAM I. 1810. G. Sec. PGLLC. 1813-5.

D.P.G.M. QTR. 1845.
PLAMONDON, LOUIS I. 1808.

J. Freres du Canada Lodge in 1819. G. Pur. PGLLC. 1808.

G.S.D. PGLLC. 1818. G.S.W. PGLLC. 1819-20. G.S.W. QTR.

1820.
POINGDEXTER, JOHN I. 1809.

POTTON, WILLIAM I. 1812.

PRICE, WILLIAM I. 1814.

PRIOR, J. M. I. 1817.

PROCTOR, W. B. I. 1816.

PYNE, E. P. 1800.

RACEY, BENJAMIN I. 1812.

J. Sussex Lodge in 1816. G.S.D. PGLLC. 1820. G.Sd.Br. QTR.

1820. G.S.D. QTR. 1821.
RANKIN, JAMES J. 1793.

Surveyor. Init. No. 241. E.R.(A). 1793. J. Select Surveyors*

Lodge.

REBBISON, — 1794.

RIGBY, SAMUEL L 1816.

ROBINSON, — 1794.

ROBINSON, WEBB I. 1812. Demitted 1819.

—1060—

ROSS, C. Jr. 1807.

ROSS, JOHN Jr. I. 1805.

RYLAND, J. J. 1818.

From Royal Thistle Lodge No. 222 S.C. 4th Batt. 1st Regiment

(Royal Scots).

SARGEANT, KEABLE 1800.

No. 241 E.R.(A). 1793. Charter member Select Surveyors'

Lodge 1793. G. Sec. PGLLC. 1795, 1819-20. G. Treas. PGLLC.

1800. GSW. 1804. G. Reg. QTR. 1820-21. G. Sec. QTR. 1820,

1822.
SEIXAS, ED.
SEWELL, M.
SHERRIFF, T.
SHORTT, W. D. (or W. C.)
SMITH, JOHN GEORGE
SNELLING. WILLIAM H.

Commissary-General.

1819.
SOMERVILLE, Rev. JAMES

1819.

L 1811.

1800.

I. 1818.

L 1817.

D.P.G.M.

PGLLC. 1817-18. Demitted

I. 1803. G.

Chap. PGLLC. 1820.

Chap. M&WH. 1828.

SOMMERS, CHARLES
STANSER, ROBERT BRYMER

I. 1811.
I. 1815.

Born Halifax, N.S. 1792. Son of Bishop Robert Stanser of
Nova Scotia. Paymaster to the Garrison. 1812. Died London,
Eng. 1850.
STOTT, THOMAS I. 1821.

STOWE, JOSEPH I. 1803. Member of the Legislative

TASCHEREAU, J. T.

Assembly in 1813.

TAYLOR,

1793.

THOMPSON, J. H.

I. 1812.

THOMPSON. WILLIAM A.

1821.

G.J.W. PGLLC.

1819. G.S.W. PGLLC. 1820. D.P.G.M

PGLLC. 1821-22.

G.J.W. QTR. 1820. G.S.W. QTR. 1822.

THOMSON, JOHN H.

I. 1814.

TODD, ALEXANDER

I. 1806.

TOFT, JOSEPH

I. 1819.

TONNANCOUR, CHARLES

I. 1811. J. Freres du Canada Lodge

in 1819.

TREW, ARTHUR

1800.

URBORNE, HENRY

I. 1804.

VALL, PAUL

1813.

VOYER, T. L. F.

I. 1810.

WALKER, JOHN

Died 1800.

WARE, THOMAS

1800.

WATKINS, SAMUEL WILLIAM I. 1821. Clerk.

—1061—

WEATHERBY, J. B.
WHITE, H. J.
WHITE, THOMAS
WHITMARSH, HERBERT
WIGGEN, W. H.
WILSON, GEORGE
WILSON, GEORGE
WILSON, Dr. ALEXANDER

I. 1817. Capt. 60th Regiment.

1800.
I. 1806.
I. 1815.
I. 1816.

I. 1811. G.S.D. PGLLC. 1815.
I. 1821.

J. 1791.

D.P.G.M. PGLLC. 1792. Installed Duke of Kent as P.G.M.

PGLLC.
WOOD, HENRY I. 1817.

WOODGATE, WILLIAM 1800. Lieut. West Yorks Regiment

YOUVILLE, PH'D I. 1810.

VISITING BRETHREN TO MERCHANTS' LODGE

ADAMS, JAMES
BAKER, WILLIAM

BARBER, WILLIAM

St. Andrew's No. 188 E.R. Halifax.

1819. Wellington Persevering, No. 20.

Montreal.
1812. Globe, ? No. 14 E.R., London,
Eng.
BARRONS, JEREMIAH 1810. 23rd Regiment.

St. George's No. 163 E.R. Grenada.
BENNETT, THOMAS 1813. St. John's No. 211 E.R. Halifax.

BINNIE, J. (or BINMORE) 1816.

Royal Navy. Pythagor ean No. 21. Wellington Persevering
No. 20.
BLAKE, B. 1817.

Capt. Bengal Army. True Friendship, No. 1. Bengal, Calcutta.

BLAKENBERG, C.

BOUGERA, C.

BOUND, ABRAHAM
BURRELL, GEORGE

CARRINGTON, S. G.
CATTY, J. H.

CLEARY, T. O. V.
COATES, RICH
COATES, R. A.

CONNORS, MICHAEL

1817. 103rd Regiment.

Lodge Good Hope.

(Not identified).
1817. Lodge Concordia No. 3.

New Orleans.
1810.
1819. No. 9 E.R. (A). (Albion).

G. Tyler 1792.

1810. Union No. 1. New York.
1817. Lieut. Royal Engineers.

Richilieu No. 6.
1816. St. John's No. 211 E.R. Halifax.

COATES, RICHARD AYLMER 1817. No. 137 I.C, Dublin.

1810. Sussex No. 22.

G.D.C. QTR 1822.
1815. No. 241. E.R. (A).

—1062—

COTTERAM, M. 1819. Durham Faithful. No. 446 E.R.

68th Regiment.
COWAN, JAMES 1815. No. 931 I.C, Ballymacarett.

CRAMER, LOUIS 1811.

Shoemaker. No. 241. E.R. (A). G. Pur. PGLLC. 1811.
CRAWFORD, R. 1815. Union and Crown Bo. 129 S.C.

Glasgow.
GUSHING, ELMER Gentleman. Union No. 8.

DALRYMPLE, ALEXANDER 1810.

Ship's Master. Solomon No. 263 S.C. Fraserburg,

Aberdeenshire.
DEMPSTER, JOHN 1809.

Greenock Kilwinning No. 70 S.C. (This Lodge was No. 15

in 1809. It was never No. 70).

FRASER, ALEXANDER 1819. St. Fergus No. 252 S.C. Wick,

Caithness.
FULLERTON, JAMES 1813. St. John's No. 211. Halifax.

HART, MOSES, Senior 1810. St. George's No. 16.

HAY, RICHARD BERRANGER 1809.

Surveyor. Somerset No. 411 E.R. Bermuda.

HECTOR, W.

HOGG, JOHN SCOTT
HOLLY, JAMES

HOLMES, GEORGE

JOHNSTON, JOHN

JOHNSTONE, WILLIAM
JONES, DAVID
LAPPENBERG, G.

McCREATH, ARCHIBALD
McGEE, CHARLES

McLean, william

MARSH, THOMAS
NASH, C.

1813. Surgeon, H.M.S. Indian.

No. 140. (Lodge unidentified).
1810. Sussex No. 22.
1812. Mariner.

St. John's No. 29.

(Not identified).
1812. Mariner.

St. John's No. 29.

(Not identified).

1810. Physician.

St. Paul's No. 12.
1812. Lodge unidentified.

1817. Washington No. 16 New York.

1814. Master, Royal Navy.

No. 268. (Not identified).
1819. Royal Arch No. 163 S.C. Ayr.
1810. St. Patrick's No. 4. PGL

Quebec.
1819. Sussex No. 22.

Friendship No. 21 PGLUC.

(Not identified).
1817. No. 3. Tobago. (Not identified).
1817. 103rd Regiment.

No. 791 I.e., Westmeath

Militia.

—1063—

OLIVER, JAMES 1780.

PARYS, W. M. 1815.

Peace and Concord, Mont de Marsan, France. (Not identified).
PELTON, JOSHUA 1814. Field Train Department.

Field Train Department. Commercial No. 242 S.C. Oban.
Union No. 8. St. Paul's No. 12.
PETRIE, ETIENNE 1810. No. 241. E.R.(A).

G.S.D. PGLLC. 1811.
PIERCE, MOSES 1810. No. 241. E.R.(A).

REID, WILLIAM 1817. No. 537 I.C. Gullybacky, Co.

Antrim.
REIFFENSTEIN, I. C 1809.

A military officer. No. 4, Germany. (Not identified).
ROBERTSON, JAMES 1819. St. Andrew's No. 188 E.R.

Halifax.
ROSS, WILL 1817. Sussex No. 22.

G. Sec. PGLLC. 1818.
SCOTT, GEORGE 1819. Sussex No. 22.

G.J.D. PGLLC. 1819.
SIMPSON, W. J. 1817. Sussex No. 22.

SPARKS, T. F. S. 1814.

Asst.-Commissioner of Artillery. Twelve Brothers No. 138
E.R. Portsea.
STANLEY, GEORGE 1810. Cordwainer.

Joined Wellington Persevering

No. 20 in 1816.
STEACEY, BENJAMIN 1819. No. 958 I.C. Enniscorthy. Co.

Wexford.
STILSON, JOSEPH 1810.

Sadler. Charter member Sussex No. 22. G.J.D. PGLLC. 1806.
G.J.W. PGLLC. 1810. G.S.W. PGLLC. 1811-14; 1816-17.
THOMSON, T. A. 1815. No. 289. (Not identified).

TRINDER, HENRY 1819. Independent Royal Arch No. 2.

New York.
VOALES, R. A. 1810. ? Sussex No. 22.

WESTBROOKE, JOHN 1819. Harmony, New Jersey.

WILDE, GEORGE 1808. No. 241. E.R. (A).

YOUNG, C. 1817. 103rd Regiment.

Caledonian. (Not identified).
YOUNG, THOMAS 1815. Temple No. 5. N.Y., Albany.

Note. Unless otherwise indicated Lodges on Register of Provincial Grand
Lodge of Lower Canada.

—1064—

No. 59

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

19 6 1

JOHN ROSS ROBERTSON
Freemason

1 by W. Bro. John E. Taylor

Read at the Thirty- First Meeting of the Association,
held at Toronto, May 16, 1961.

, I

—1065—

John Ross Robertson - Freemason

by W. Bro. John E. Taylor

It is difficult, even after a period of forty-three years following the
death of John Ross Robertson, to speak of him without the excessive use
of superlatives. As a successful business man, as a philanthropist, as a
politician, few contemporaries excelled him, but it was as a Freemason that
he is best known, and to Freemasonry he gave his leisure hours and has left
behind him an imperishable memory. It is the purpose of this paper to
retrace the steps by which he reached the pinnacle of the several branches
of the Craft, and through which his lustre shone, setting an outstanding
example for future Masons to follow.

Early Years

John Ross Robertson was born December 28th, 1841, at the Robertson
home on John St., Toronto, son of John Robertson, a successful dry goods
merchant. He was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, where he
gave evidence of his skill as a compositor and as a printer. As a schoolboy
he started a small printing office in his father's home, and from its press
came "The College Times," later known as the "Boys' Times" which he
distributed round the school from 1857 to 1860. His versatility was amazing.
"By working at 'odd jobs' and assisting as opportunity offered in several of
the city printing works, such as the old "Christian," the "Guardian," "Globe,"
and the "Leader" offices, he gained much valuable and practical experience.
And so, when it came to the choice of a vocation, and he was offered a
clerkship in the old Commercial Bank, an ensigncy, or a place in his father's
business, it is not surprising that, after three week's trial of the last, he threw
up the routine of work in the store for the pursuit of journalism.

Journalism

Another early enterprise was the publication of "The Grumbler," a
weekly satirical paper, and in 1860 he equipped a newspaper and job office
a^d issiifed the "Sporting Life," the first sporting paper in Canada devoted
to athletic sports. In 1861-3 he was employed on the staff of "The Leader'*
and at the same period was responsible for a year's issue of the Canadian
Railway Guide under his name, the first of its kind in Canada. The year
1863 saw him city editor on the staff of the "Toronto Globe;" in 1866 he
became one of the founders of the "Daily Telegraph," a paper of high repu-
tation amongst those of the Canadian press, but which, owing to political
complications, ceased publication in 1872. In December 1869, Robertson,
representing this paper, accompanied by Mr. Robert Cunningham of the
"Globe," made an eventful excursion to North-West Canada, where the
rigours of the climate were not the only dangers encountered, for at Fort
Garry, on the Red River, they became prisoners of the rebel 'President' Riel.
This adventurous service was succeeded by three years' residence in England

—1066-

ENGRAVED AND COPYRIGHTED BY THE JOHN C. YORSTON

PUBLISHING COMPANY lOlO

/. Ross Robertson, Past Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Canada in

Ontario, P. Gd. First Principal, Gd. Chapt. of R.A. Masons of Canada,

P. Gd. M., Gd. Council Royal Select Masters, Ontario.

as the London correspondent and representnative of the "Toronto Globe."
On his return to Canada in 1875 he undertook the business management of
"The Nation," edited by Prof. Goldwin Smith, and this association appears to
have led up to what proved to be the great journalistic achievement of his
career — the estabHshment of the "Evening Telegram' in April 1876. It is
said to be the only daily paper in Canada which paid its way from the
start. 'The immediate success of this paper' said the Globe, in a sketch of
his career, 'is ample evidence that he had graduated from a good school of
journalism. Neither accident nor luck had aught to do with his success.
He launched out in new and original lines, and the good fortune that attended
his efforts was the outcome of his energy, enthusiasm and experience, rein-
forced by a persistence and resource that would admit of no failure.

"For many years Bro. Robertson was President of the Canadian Copy-
right Association ; he served as Vice-President and President of the Canadian
Associated Press, and was Honorary President of the Toronto Press Club
at the time of his death."

-1067—

Masonic Career

Robertson was initiated in King Solomon's Lodge No. 22, Toronto, on
the 14th March, 1867, and is shown as a Life Member on the 1896 member-
ship list. He was Worshipful Master in 1881, and it is recorded in the fifty-
year history of that Lodge that he was tendered a testimonial at the con-
clusion of his year in recognition of his services : it is typical of the man
that he declined it, saying that he considered the honour of being Master of
King Solomon's Lodge in itself was sufficient recompense for any services
which he had been able to render, not to mention the esteem and good-will
of the members which he as Master had enjoyed.

In 1883 he was elected to the Board of General Purposes of Grand
Lodge, and in 1896 was appointed District Deputy Grand Master of Toronto
District No, 11, consisting of seventy-eight lodges. He was elected Deputy
Grand Master in 1888 and became Grand Master in 1890.

In 1891 Grand Master Robertson carried out the almost incredible feat of
visiting all of the 232 lodges then in the Grand jurisdiction: what this en-
tailed in travelling in an age when the slowest form of transportation was
the horse, the fastest a less than adequate railway system, can only be
imagined. The motor car was not even dreamed of. In 1879 he was also
W.M. of Mimico Lodge No. 369, Lambton Mills, and in 1891, the year that
Sir John A. MacDonald died, M.W. Brother Robertson was appointed to
succeed him as Representative of the United Grand Lodge of England near
the Grand Lodge of "Canada." Upon the occasion of the coronation of King
Edward VII, he was given the rank of Past Junior Grand Warden of the
United Grand Lodge of England.

Bro. Robertson made a unique gift to Toronto Masonry in a Master's
Chair. This chair is historical because it is made from two oaken beams
taken from the floor of the "Goose and Gridiron Inn," St. Paul's Church
Yard, the Inn where the first Grand Lodge met in 1717, and they were given
to Bro. Robertson by the builder who demolished the building. It has the
following inscription under the seat : "This chair is made from the rafters
which supported the first floor room of 'The Goose and Gridiron' Tavern,
London Yard, St. Paul's Church Yard, London, England, built in 1670, in
which the election of Anthony Sayer, first Grand Master Grand Lodge of Eng-
land took place June 24, 1717, secured by J. Ross Robertson of Toronto on its
demolition in 1897." The chair is now in the Chisholme Avenue Temple,
Toronto, and was used by the Grand Lodge for the installation of the Grand
Master on the one hundredth anniversary of the Grand Lodge of Ontario in
1955.

In 1867 the year that he joined King Solomon's Lodge No. 22 he joined
King Solomon's Royal Arch Chapter No. 8 becoming its First Principal in
1880. He continued in this office in 1881 and was elected Grand Scribe 'N'
in the same year. He was elected Grand First Principal in 1894 and was
re-elected in 1895, thus holding the office one year longer than the term called
for. It was characteristic of him that he visited all the Chapters under his
jurisdiction.

—1068—

MASTER'S CHAIR

Made from oaken beams of "Goose and Gridiron Inn," London where
Grand Lodge of England was formed 1717.

In 1875 Bro. Robertson. continued his Masonic degrees and was admitted
into Adoniram Council No. 2 Toronto Royal and Select Masters, Cryptic
Rite. His Grand Council certificate was issued December 22nd, 1879 and
is numbered 239. In this body he became T.I.M. of this Council in 1876 and
was appointed a Grand Steward of that body in the same year. In 1879 he
served as Treasurer, in the following year, Grand Lecturer, and in 1881,
Grand P.C.N. The following year he became Grand Master and presided over
the body from 1882 to 1885 when he was elected Grand Recorder of the Grand
Council of "Canada" which office he held until 1887.

He showed his further interest in Canadian Masonry by joining Odo St.
Amand Preceptory No. 17 in 1876, and was Marshal in 1879 and Constable
in 1880. The following year when Odo St. Amand and Geoffrey St. Aldemar
Preceptories were amalgamated he was elected the first Presiding Preceptor

—1069—

of the joint body. Sir Knight Robertson was elected Provincial Grand
Prior in 1882 and in the following year was Grand Pursuivant of the
Sovereign Grand Priory of Canada. Odo St. Amand Preceptory charter
was transferred from Toronto to Brantford in 1892.

With all his activities in the foregoing Masonic bodies, it is not sur-
prising that he was unable to take any active part in the Scottish Rite. The
obituary notice from that body reads as follows: — 'He joined the Scottish
Rite in the City of Toronto in 1876, and at the time of his death was the
oldest member in the Valley of Toronto. He did not at any time take any
prominent part in the Scottish Rite work, and it was only because of his
love for the Craft and his great work in that branch of the Order that he
was made an Honorary Inspector-General 33° at a special meeting of the
Supreme Council for Canada in the year 1903.

Niagara Lodge No. 2

On June 18, 1889 when he was Deputy Grand Master, he delivered a
lecture entitled 'One Hundred Years of Masonry in Canada.* The minute
continues that the lecture was well attended and received. On June 24, it
was moved and carried that he be made an Honorary member with full
privileges of the Lodge, but this Brother Robertson refused. On July 15
of the same year an application for affiliation was received in regular
meeting from R.W. Bro. Robertson, was ballotted on the same evening and
elected.

King Solomon's Plot

Bro. Robertson's Masonic endeavours touched on another and unexpected
aspect of the Craft. His attention must have b^en drawn sometime to the
fact that there were indigent Masons dying in Toronto who had no burial
place or no means to inter them. To remedy this, in 1883 he purchased a plot
in Mount Pleasant Cemetery facing Yonge St. with 243 individual resting
places, and it is deeded as follows : — "That he was desirous of providing a
burial ground for the interment of such poor and indigent Masons, legally
and lawfully admitted members of the Order known as A.F. & A.M.'s as
may die without having provided for their interment, or whose interment it
may be desired by the proper representatives of the Masonic Order." The
Chairman and Secretary-Treasurer of the Masonic Board of Relief of Toronto,
who are elected by the representatives of the Toronto Lodges, were appointed
custodians with the authority to permit burial in this Masonic plot 'free from
all fees and charges' to any member of a lodge of A.F. & A.M. under the
jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Canada, or in a jurisdiction recognised by
that Grand Lodge, a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, a Royal and Select
Master, a Preceptory of Knights Templar, or the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite. The present secretary, in supplying me recently with the
information given above, notes that one hundred and fifty-three indigent
Masons have been buried therein.

-1070—

Other Activities

Outside of Canada, besides his Grand Lodge appointment in England,
he was elected an honorary member of Mary's Chapel Lodge No. 1, Edin-
burgh, and became a member of Fortrose Lodge, No. 108, Stornoway, Scot-
land. In 1888 he became a Correspondence Circle Member of the Quatuor
Coronati Lodge No. 2076, London, England.

To many minds, by far the greatest contribution which John Ross
Robertson made to Freemasonry was his literary activities. He was the
author of a two-volume "History of Freemasonry in Canada," published in
1899, and wherever a reference to early Canadian Masonry is quoted, that
reference nearly always comes from these two volumes. He was the author
of two other Masonic histories which are not so widely read as membership
in the two bodies is more restricted than in the Craft itself. One is a "History
of the Knights Templars of Canada," published in 1890, the other, Robertson's
"History of the Cryptic Rite," appeared in print in 1888. In 1904, when
Bro. Robertson's name was proposed as an active member of Quatuor Coronati
Lodge No. 2076, his literary works were put forward in support of his candi-
dature. His 'Talks with Craftsmen' seems to be very little known. Upon
election he took his seat as a member on May 6th, 1904.

He also wrote a history of King Solomon's Lodge, Toronto, from 1864
to 1885, and copies of this book are very scarce. Not least of his writings is
the six-volume set of Robertson's Landmarks of Toronto, now a valuable
source of anything that belongs to Toronto's past, and a publication that must
have taken a vast amount of time to compile.

Bro. Robertson during his lifetime built up a Masonic library of three
thousand volumes, originally given to the Toronto Public Library, but in
1935 it became the start of the magnificent Grand Lodge Library of the
Grand Lodge of "Canada" in the Province of Ontario. It includes un-
published manuscripts, copies of minute books of old Lodges, some of which
were defunct over a hundred years ago, and of Lodges which are still flour-
ishing. His name is commemorated in Lodge No. 545.

This paper has not touched on his myriad other activities, his service
as a Member of Parliament, nor his favourite charity. The Toronto Hospital
for Sick Children.

Bro. MacBean of Lodge Fortrose, No. 108, Stornaway, mentions a visit
he paid Bro. Robertson in the summer of 1903, when, in addition to seeing
his magnificent and extensive collection of engravings and many rare Masonic
curios, he had the advantage of being shown over the Children's Hospital at
Toronto and the Lakeside Convalescent Homes in connection therewith by
Bro. Robertson. This brings us to another of the great activities of Bro.
Robertson's life, for as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital
for Sick Children, his name will be long gratefully remembered. For thirty-
five years he carried the chief burden of this important charitable institution,
bringing its need not only much money of his own, but aiding it with the full

—1071-

force of his powers as a financier and organizer, taking an active part in its
management and visiting the Hospital every day. It was his own gift to the
Charity that he completely equipped the Hospital buildings in College Street
and Elizabeth Street, and built and founded the Lakeside Home for Little
Children at Lighthouse Point, Toronto Island. A Nurses' Hostel containing
125 rooms, attached to the latter was a memorial to his first wife, a pavilion
for tubercular treatment was a further addition, and the establishment for
the pasteurization of milk in the Hospital grounds at Toronto was still
another of his enterprises.

Toronto will not soon forget that the initiative which inspired improved
ambulance service of the city originated with this public-minded citizen in 1888.
It was on Monday, 20th May, 1918, that Bro. Robertson signed his last cheque
— a cheque for $111,000 to clear the debt from the Children's Hospital.

Politically he represented East Toronto in 1896-1900 in the Canadian
House of Commons, as an independent Conservative, pledged to vote for the
general good of the country. In 1902 he attended with Mrs. Robertson the
Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. In 1917 Bro.
Robertson was offered, amongst the New Year's Honours, a Knighthood and
a Senatorship, both of which honours he gratefully declined.

His Death

He passed away on May 31st, 1918, at his home, 291 Sherbourne St.,
Toronto, at the age of seventy-eight. In closing I quote the final words of
the Tn Memoriam' tribute of Bro. Gordon P. G. Hills, Master of Quatuor
Coronati Lodge :

"Brother Robertson was buried with the simple rites of the Presbyterian
Church of which he was a member, on June 3rd. An eye witness has
described the occasion : — 'Chestnut blossoms fell into the sunlight like
snowflakes as the funeral passed along the familiar streets to the
Necropolis. There the interment took place upon the hillside, with a
broad view up the beautiful Don Valley, green in the promise of early
summer, bathed in golden sunlight, and open to the wide blue expanse
of sky. There his remains were reverently lowered to their last resting

place'."

Life's labour done
Serenely to his final rest he passed
While the soft memories of his virtues yet
Linger, like the sunlight hues, when

That bright orb has set.

References

A.Q.C. Volume 31

Correspondence with various Grand Bodies

Grand Lodge Library

Toronto Telegram

Minutes, Niagara No. 2

—1072—

il n ■■ ■■ «■ ■■ ■■ «—
i |n ■■ ■■ «■ n n I

I \

1 I

No. 61

CANADIAN

MASONIC RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION

THE BEGINNINGS OF

FREEMASONRY IN

THE CITY OF ST. CATHARINES

By MURVIN J. McCOMB
P.M. MAPLE LEAF LODGE No. 103 G.R.C

— it

■

i
!

■

!
ONTARIO 1

m
m

Read before the 32nd Meeting of the j

Canadian Masonic Research Association !

held at St. Catharines, Ontario, |

November 14, 1961 {

■

■ II M ■■■■■ M ■■ — ■■■■ — ■■■■■■■■■■ M ■■ M ■■ n ^— — — —t^t

^ I 1 mma^—mt^^'mi^— m w ■■ m ■■■ ■ m ■■■■ w ■■■«■■■■ ■» ■■ m m ■■ ii | »

—1073-

The Beginnings Of
Freemasonry In St Catharines

By Marvin ). McComb, P.M/'

FOREWORD

An old St. Catharines book of By-laws had this to say: "Man is essen-
tially a religious being. In all ages and under all circumstances, he has had
a shrine at which to offer up his devotions ; and no matter how unhallowed
may have been the rites by which that religion was solemnized, still it afforded
an outlet to his feelings, while at the same time it placed a stamp upon his
character. Men's characters are formed by the society in which they move —
by the institutions under which they live; and that society, no matter by what
name it may be called, which has for its prime objective the good of mankind,
is at least entitled to our regard and esteem. Masonry, though making no
claim to Divine origin, is yet a creed that demands and receives the universal
consent of all men, which admits of no doubt, and defies schism."

This being so, it is not surprising that, in the early history of our country,
Masonry found a place and that story is told beautifully in other pamphlets
and books and need not be repeated here. It is enough to say that British
regiments, stationed in Canada, had Masonic Lodges as part of their being.
Where they were stationed in a region for some time it was natural that they
accepted into this inner circle certain of the prominent men of the community.
When the regiment moved, as was quite frequent in those troubled days, the
brethren, left without a lodge to attend, naturally met in their homes or in
inns and kept up their work. In this way Niagara Lodge, in the old Town
of Niagara, was so formed.

In another paper this story is well told. For this paper, it is enough to
say that many prominent St. Catharines men belonged to that Lodge and did
not think it too far to travel regularly to the meetings held "on or before the
full of the moon."

Came the War of 1812-14 between the U.S.A. and Britain, and Canada
was invaded by American troops ; and old Niagara, together with other lodges
along the border, found it difficult to meet and had to cease holding meetings
"for the duration." St. Catharines, being somewhat removed from the threat
of war and feeling the want of that intercourse that is so much enjoyed by
all good Masons, decided to do something about having their own meeting
place and lodge. Thus Masonry came to St. Catharines.

Today there are eight Craft lodges within the city limits as well as a
Royal Arch Chapter and a Preceptory. In all there are over two thousand
members making up approximately 2.5% of the population.

•The author of this paper on Freemasonry in St. Catharines and neighbourhood died
December 9, 1962. He was for 18 years principal of Power Glen Public School, and
for three years on the staff of Port Weller Public School. A Past Master of Maple
Leaf Lodge No. 103 and a member of other Lodges, he was also active in the Scottish
Rite, the Royal Arch, and Knight Templar Orders; the Shrine and other organizations.
An* active leader in the Anglican Church.

—1074—

St. Catharines

St. Catharines, "The Garden City," lays claim to being the leading city
of the Niagara Peninsula. It can trace its origin back to 1786 when the first
two Loyalist families, by the names of Hainer and Dittrick, settled one on
either side of the Twelve Mile Creek.

At the close of the Amercian Revolutionary War, a land survey board
was established to parcel out the land to United Empire Loyalists and other
early settlers. One of the members of the board, Hon. Robert Hamilton,
Superintendent of the Western Division, seemed to allot a substantial portion
of the best land to himself. He obtained grants in every part of the Penin-
sula. One of these parcels was the land now forming the heart of the City
of St. Catharines. To service the settlers he hoped to have on his land, he
built a warehouse on the Twelve Mile Creek in the heart of the present city.
Hamilton himself did not settle here, however.

Two of the early families were the Adams family and the Merritt family,
both of whom became leaders in the community and were much heard of in
the formative years of the city.

In 1797, George Adams built the first tavern at the corner of what is now
Ontario and St. Paul Streets. However, he retained it for one year only,
selling it to Paul Shipman. For many years thereafter the community was
known as Shipman's Corners or The Twelve, and the main business street as
St. Paul Street. About 1816, as the community grew, the name changed to
St. Catharine in honour of Catharine Askin Robertson, first wife of Robert
Hamilton.

Incorporation did not come to St. Catharines until 1845. Thirty-one
years later it became a city. In 1862 the town became the county seat for
the County of Lincoln. On January 1, 1961, amalgamation took place with
the towns of Merritton and Port Dalhousie and the Township of Grantham
to make a new city of 84,000 people.

St. George's Lodge No. 15

George Adams became a member of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No
2, Niagara, in 1796. In 1822, at the time of the formation of the Second
Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada, he was Grand Master of the
schmismatic Grand Lodge of Niagara. He became one of the leading movers
to establish a lodge in St. Catharines.

At the 100th and 125th anniversaries of St. George's Lodge which were
held in 1914 and 1939, those in charge laid claim to being able to trace their
origin back to 1814. If this is true, the Lodge must have met under dispen-
sation for two years. We know that the warrant was delivered on June 1,
1816, by officers of the continuing Provincial Grand Lodge (known as The
Niagara Grand Lodge) and the Lodge received the number 27 in its register.

Late in the 1890's John Ross Robertson discovered an old volume con-
taining the minutes of this meeting. They are in part as follows:

-1075-

"Grand Lodge opened on the 1st June, 1816, at 2 o'clock p.m. at Paul
Shipman's Tavern in Grantham, met for the purpose of constituting a new
lodge, designated by St. George's Lodge No.

"Present :

R. W. Robert Kerr, Provincial Grand Master

R. W. Christopher Danby, Deputy P. G. Master

R. W. George Adams, J. G. W. Protem

R. W. John Chrysler, S. G. W. Protem

R. W. Adam Bowman, G. Treasurer

R. W. Richard Cockrell, G. Secretary

R. W. Josiah Brown, G. Pursuivant

Bro. Thos. Merritt, Worshipful Master

Bro. George Adams, Senior Warden

Bro. Amos McKinney, Junior Warden."

It will be noted that George Adams is listed twice, first as Junior
Warden pro tem and as Senior Warden of the new Lodge. In its historical
notes, St. George's Lodge lists Adams as the first Master but it seems clear
that this is an error and that Thomas Merritt held the position. This is
further borne out as Merritt heads the list of past masters given in 1833.

Little is known of the working of St. George's Lodge in the early years.
Apparently it remained active during the lull after the Morgan incident of 1826.
Even when the Provincial Grand Lodge became inactive in 1829, Masonry
was kept alive here. This is borne out in the fact that on June 20, 1835, the
corner stone of St. George's Anglican Church was laid by the brethren. -Rev.
Robt. Ker in his "Historic and Centenary Reviezo" reports this ceremony and
this is given in the appendix : "At that time the lodge was twenty-one years
old. Twelve masters had ruled over its affairs. In order, they are as follows :
Thomas Merritt, Amos McKinney, Ebenezer Colliver, Peter Ten Broeck
Pawling, George Rykert, Jacob Dittrick, George Adams, Charles Ingersoll,
Robert Campbell, J. H. Clendennan, Peter S. Campbell and David M. Smith."

It is thought that the lodge became dormant about 1837-38 at the time of
the Rebellion in Upper Canada. It was not revived again until 1846 under
Sir Allan N. MacNab, the Grand Master of the third Provincial Grand
Lodge. Since that day the lodge has had continuous activity.

Although not a part of the work of St. George's Lodge, yet closely
connected with it, was a convocation of Grand Lodge at St. Catharines, on
October 30, 1848 when Grand Master Sir Allan N. MacNab laid the corner
stone of the town hall. This building has been for many years the county
building for Lincoln. It contains the court rooms and legal and county offices.

The minutes of this meeting are given in the appendix.

An interesting sidelight of this occasion took place recently. It was
referred to in the address of M. W. Bro. C. M. Pitts, G.M., in i960 at the
Annual Communication at Toronto in these words :

"Historic Trowel Returns."

—1076—

"On October 30, 1848, at St. Catharines, under the auspices of the Pro-
vincial Grand Lodge of Canada West, Rt. Wor. Bro. Sir Allan N. MacNab,
Provincial Grand Master, in an impressive ceremony, laid the corner stone
of a Town Hall. He used a silver trowel engraved which was afterwards
presented to him by the President of the Board of Police. One hundred and
eleven years later, this trowel was discovered in the antique department of a
large departmental store in Perth, Australia. Through the personal kindness
of the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Western Australia, Rt. Wor.
Bro. N. J. Munro, it was forwarded to our Grand Secretary, who arranged
with His Worship the Mayor of St. Catharines, Bro. Wilfred Bald, for a
formal presentation of the trowel to that city. On March 18, 1960, this
presentation was performed by our Deputy Grand Master, Rt. Wor. Bro.
R. W. Treleaven, and our Grand Secretary in the presence of a large company
of the Civic authorities of the City of St. Catharines. It will be plaqed in
the City Archives. This is but another instance of the chain of Masonic
influence and co-operation which binds us together in mutual interest though
in different continents."

Although the number 27 was assigned to the lodge in 1816, it was changed
to 15 under the second Provincial Grand Lodge and received the number 768
on the English register. When the lodge was revived in 1846, it was renum-
bered 9 in Canada and 791 in England. Under the Grand Lodge of Canada
when re-numbering took place in 1859, it - once again took its former
number 15.

The first regular meeting place of the lodge was a log tavern on Queen-
ston Street, the property of Samual Dolsen. This meeting place was retained
until the lodge became inactive. In 1846, quarters were obtained in the
Mittlebergher Block near the corner of St. Paul and Ontario Streets. A fire
occurred here in 1858 which resulted in the loss of many records. It cannot
be ascertained where the meeting place was for a few years after this time.
The block may have been repaired.

On January 31, 1871, a group of Masons met and formed the Masonic
Association of St. Catharines for the purpose of erecting a lodge building.
A copy of the agreement was found in the local registry office by V. W.
Bro. Horton Byrne and is reproduced in the appendix. Lot No. 39 on
Ontario Street, being 50 ft. by 90 ft. was purchased for $4,000. from J. P.
Merritt and a lodge building was erected. It was of three storeys. The top
floor contained a lodge room and a chapter room with service rooms. The
two lower floors were leased to business firms. By this time a Royal Arch
Chapter and a Preceptory had been started. Maple Leaf Lodge had been in
existence for several years and in 1873 Temple Lodge was instituted. These
five groups would make use of the facilities.

In 1953 the building was sold for $45,000. and the old Court Street School
was bought and thoroughly remodelled into the present Masonic Memorial
Temple.

—1077—

Maple Leaf Lodge No. 103

With the revival of Masonry in Ontario in the 1840*s membership in all
lodges increased. In St. Catharines, which had grown to a sizeable com-
munity, the one lodge, St, George's, became quite large. Early in 1858 a
number of prominent members, led by James Seymour and William McGhie
with the full support of their mother lodge, petitioned Grand Lodge for a
dispensation to start a new lodge. This was readily granted and an organi-
zation meeting was held on May 17. The new lodge received the name, Maple
Leaf, and was registered as Number 103 in the register of Grand Lodge.
The charter was dated July 29, 1858.

Records of the early meetings have been lost. However, the St. Cath-
arines Constitution, a local weekly newspaper, reported the first meeting as
follows :

"The installation of officers connected with the new Masonic lodge of
this town — the Maple Leaf by name, together with a respectable number of
visiting brethren from St. George's Lodge, being in attendance to witness
the ceremony. W. M. Bro. Poe officiated on the occasion assisted by Past
masters Parsons and Roberts. And if the regularity and strict observance
marking the work of the evening may be regarded as a fair augury of future
operations, then may the following brethren of Maple Leaf Lodge feel proud
of their auspicious induction to office during the first term of its career :

W. M., W. Bro. Wm. McGhie J. D. Bro. S. Hofeller

S. W. Bro. Dr. A. Jukes D. of C. Bro. Robt. Lawrie

J. W. Bro. James Seymour Sr. S. Bro. Stanley Alexander

Secy. Bro. R. H. McMullen Jr. S. Bro. Hiram Marlatt

Treas. W. Bro. F. Parsons L G. Bro. Hugh James

S. D. Bro. Thos. Hostetter Tyler R. L. Fitzgerald

The Lodge was then closed in harmony and the Worshipful Master elect
invited the officers and members and visiting brethren present to Brother
Houghton's for refreshments which the previous labours rendered particularly
appetizing. After spending a short but pleasant season of enjoyment and
social hilarity, the closing sentiment, "Happy to meet, sorry to part, happy
to meet again," caused an early dispersion, the kindest wishes to Maple Leaf
pervading all.

Other charter members were: Thomas Fletcher, William Read, Rolland
McDonald, John S. Clark, Henry J. Hudson, Kenneth MacKenzie and Asrael
Roberts."

Of the eighteen charter members, six later resigned from the new lodge,
five were suspended for N.P.D., although one was later restored to good
standing and the remainder remained faithful till called to the Grand Lodge
above.

The lodge was very active for a number of years. In each of the first
two years, eleven new members were taken in. However during 1865, the
membership dropped from 67 to 46 due to suspensions for non-payment of

—1078—

dues. Apparently there was an economic recession that year. By 1869, just
four years later, the membership had passed the one hundred mark. From
that time on progress was in evidence until today it is St. Catharines largest
lodge with over five hundred members. During the century of its history no
fewer than 1,300 names have appeared on its register.

One of the most famous of its members, and one of its charter members,
was James Seymour who became the only Grand Master and Grand First
Principal from the vicinity. He served as Grand Master during the year
1871 and as Grand First Principal during 1874.

As Maple Leaf Lodge was the child of St. Georges, so Maple Leaf in
turn sponsored two other lodges that are flourishing in the immediate neigh-
bourhood to-day, Mountain Lodge of Thorold in 1873 and Seymour Lodge
in the former Port Dalhousie in 1872.

Seymour Lodge No. 277

In the early days lodges were few and far between. So interested were
the brethren that they came long distances and at considerable hardship at
times to meet together. As their members increased it became feasible to
organize new lodges which were more convenient to the brethren.

Seymour Lodge was originated because it was difficult to get from Port
Dalhousie to St. Catharines during inclement weather with horse and buggy.

In the formation of the lodge. Maple Leaf Lodge may be considered the
sponsoring body as most of the charter members were from that lodge and it
was named after James Seymour, former Grand Master, who also became a
charter member.

The first meeting to organize it was held on January 22, 1872 in the
Wood building with fourteen men present. Other meetings resulted in having
Robert Wilson, D.D.G.M. give the lodge a dispensation on May 22 of that
year. In due course, the lodge was dedicated by Most Wor. Bro. Seymour.

Maple Leaf Lodge, whose Master at that time was Peter McCarthy, and
secretary, J. E. Beeton, paid for the charter and thus acted the elder brother
to the new lodge.

The first officers installed were:

W. M. Robert Patterson S. D. Henry Bald

S. W. Humphrey Julian J. D. Jonathan Woodall

J. W. George W. Read I. G. Richard Newman

Treas. Richard Wood Tyler William Scott
Secy. John Lawrie

The first lodge meeting was held in a room in a building that stood on
the present site of Frank Latcham's store on the corner of Lock and Front
Streets. The rent was $60.00 a year.

In 1890, the Denton building was erected on Lock Street and on May 12,
the lodge moved there. In 1921, they purchased the building and held it

—1079—

until 1947. In 1954, they moved into their present building which they now
share with Grantham Lodge.

One member who might be singled out for special mention is W. Bro.
T. O. Johnston who served forty-two years as secretary, and who in 1954
stepped down to the position of honorary secretary.

In the intervening years the following members have received grand
honours :

Year D. D. G. M. Dist. Secy.

1913 J. M. A. Waugh Frank Scott

1926 T. O. Johnston R. C. Birrell

1934 A. R. MacDonald G. H. Scott

1944 W. G. Crandon J. P. Harris

The John Green Memorial Jewel was presented by this family to the
lodge in 1903, and is worn by the immediate past master for his year.

Temple Lodge No. 296

Soon after the formation of Seymour Lodge in Port Dalhousie, it became
apparent that there was the need of a third lodge in St. Catharines. St.
George's and Maple Leaf Lodges co-operated in recommending the new
lodge and in its actual formation. The records of the lodge give the following
information :

"Regular meeting of Temple Lodge, U.D. held in the Masonic Hall,
St. Catharines on Wednesday the second day of April A.L. 5873 pursuant
to summonses of W. Bro. L. S. Oille, W. M., U. D."

The "VVorshipful Master at the appointed time read the dispensation from
the M. W. G. M., authorizing to hold meetings and having complied with

oil fli*> i-#>miir*»m*>ntc fVi*» Ty^Hot** \xrac r»r»pnpH af 8 n'r]nr\r r» m

all

XTX • T T • \.Ji • XTJL •y ^(>t V**V/* ACtf AA A^ 1.V/ A IV^ A VX AA A V^^. i, JIA A^ tj CAA AVL A ACA T AAAJ

the requirements, the Lodge was opened at 8 o'clock p.m

The Worshipful Master was pleased to appoint the following officers to
serve in Temple Lodge, viz:

W. Bro. Lauchlin Leitch as Treasurer

Bro. James M. Edwin, Secretary

Bro. Theodore Thompson, as Senior Deacon

Bro. Robert S. Ness, as Junior Deacon

Bro. Frederick A. Baker, as Inner Guard

Bro. Wm. W. Greenwood, as Steward

Bro. John W. Cox, as Steward

Bro. John Reid, as Director of Ceremonies

Bro. James D. Tait, as Assistant D. of C.

Bro. John M. Currie, as Assistant D. of C.

It was decided to hold the regular meetings on the first Monday of each
month. Later this was changed to the third Monday. At the same time it
was decided by resolution that Bro. Theodore Ratcliffe be appointed tyler at
the rate of $1.00 per meeting served.

—1080—

At the first meeting, three brethren applied for affiliation and seven
citizens for initiation.

At the end of the first year, Temple Lodge decided to join with its two
sister lodges in forming a Joint Board of Masonic Relief for brethren who
asked for casual relief and needed help hurriedly.

Some interesting highlights may be taken from the minute book:

On January 3, 1877, "Moved and seconded that the W. M. select a com-
mittee of Temple, St. George's «tnd Maple Leaf to hold a "Conversazione"
in the temple on or about the 16th of the month," Nothing further was
recorded of this event.

On April 4, 1877 the record states that a gas light for the secretary's
desk was requested and also that the Masonic Association do something to
ventilate the temple properly.

On May 2, 1877, a motion requested the W. M. to appoint a committee
to work with St. George's and Maple Leaf Lodges to make all necessary
arrangements for the Grand Lodge to meet the 2nd week in July in St.
Catharines.

By May 28, 1884, there was resentment over treatment by the Board of
Masonic Control about the rent charged and since the lodge seemed unable to
even get a reply to their letters they decided to go elsewhere, for a time
meeting in the office of one of the members, V. W. Bro. Klotz. First meeting
here was held June 24, 1884 and after several meetings were held in this
office, a regular meeting was held in United Workmen's Hall. However,
there was a reconciliation, rent was adjusted and the brethren of Temple
Lodge returned to their old quarters.

In those days, progress was slow, finances were low and when the Wor-
shipful Master sanctioned the funeral expenses of a deceased brother, the
lodge, while agreeing with the Master, asked that the brethren loan the amount
to the W. M. till such time as the finances were adequate to repay them.
By March 1886 there was talk of amalgamation with the other lodges of the
city but nothing came of this fortunately. Despite the usual setbacks, Temple
Lodge has made progress to this day.

Adanac Lodge No. 614

After the institution of Temple Lodge in 1873, no new lodge came into
being in the city for about half a century. Three lodges meeting in the temple
on Ontario Street serviced the centre of the community. Seymour Lodge
took care of the Northern end while Mountain Lodge in Thorold was in the
south. The town of Merritton with its many paper mills and other light
industry became a centre of importance. Residents here belonged to the lodges
in either St. Catharines or Thorold.

During >the summer of 1922, a movement got underway with the view of
forming a new lodge, centred in Merritton. This culminated in a meeting

—1081—

held on October 30, at which over sixty attended. At this meeting the dis-
pensation was delivered to the new lodge. It is interesting to note how many
came from sister lodges in towns and cities over the whole peninsula.

The past masters among them are listed as follows

W. F. Fawcett

D.D.G.M.

Port Colborne

McNab 169

J. C. Limburner

D.D.G.M.

Niagara Falls

Clifton 254

R. A. Gibson

Thorold

Mountain 221

D. Walker

Thorold

Mountain 221

L. G. O'Connor

Thorold

Mountain 221

D. J. Munro

Thorold

Mountain 221

P. Holmes

St. Catharines

St. Georges 15

S. J. Linstater

St. Catharines

Maple Leaf 103

J. Cuthbert

Port Colborne

McNab 169

D. Burt

Port Colborne

McNab 169

A. Neff

Port Colborne

McNab 169

P. Gk)nder

Buffalo, N.Y.

Occidental lid

N. L. Lockhart

St. Catharines

Temple 296

W. Wheeler

Thorold

Mountain 221

D. S. McCrae

Niagara Falls

Clifton 254

D. McCracken

Port Colborne

McNab 169

No minutes of this meeting are in existence but the register indicates
forty-seven Master Masons in attendance. Adanac Lodge was truly off to a
good start.

On November 2, the first regular meeting was held and the following
officers are recorded as in attendance:

W. M.

R. A. Gibson

Treas.

W. F. Davids

S. W.

H. R. Savigny

Secy.

F. Sutherland

J. W.

S. A. Moffatt

S. D.

R. Bradley

J. D.

R. Thompson

J. S.

P. Rennie

L G.

R. Stuart

Tyler

J. Prophet

S. S.

F. Kerr

In addition there were ten members and four visitors present. Three
applications were received from W. A. Richardson, James Rennie and L. J.
Channel.

The portals of the lodge were well guarded as it is recorded that one
of the first three applicants was rejected. The first initiation took place on
December 7. The candidate was James Rennie and the immediate past
master of Mountain Lodge took charge of the ceremony. The second can-
didate was taken by W. Bro. Gibson.

It took almost two years before the by-laws were formulated and approved.

It is of interest to note that on September 3, 1923 Bro. Wheeler and the
junior warden were to be a committee to purchase cuspidors but these must
not be used as a chewing tobacco receptacle. By June the purchases had been
made and the committee discharged.

—1082—

In April 1928, the lodge encountered trouble with its landlord who had
made application for membership and had been turned down. Notice of
vacation was given and in November a new location was found in the
Merritton Merchantile Block.

It was about this time that a Masonic holding company was established
which was finally instrumental in the lodge owning its own building.

There was evidently strong feeling in May 1927 over the dividing of
the Niagara Masonic District into groups "A" and "B" and at this meeting
it was decided to contact the D.D.G.M. as to details and after hearing these
a motion was passed June 2, 1927 that no division take place. However, this
did occur and no more was heard about it.

From this time the lodge progressed steadily from year to year until there
are now well over two hundred members.

On January 1, 1961, Merritton became part of an enlarged city of St.
Catharines and the lodge is now one of the eight city lodges.

Perfection Lodge No. 616

About 1920 the local brethren began to talk about forming a new lodge,
since the present lodges' memberships were getting quite large. This talk
came to fruition when in the lodge rooms at 8 p.m. on the 13th of November
1922 D.D.G.M. Fawcett of Niagara District declared that all preliminaries
had been met and that the Grand Master had approved of a dispensation to
hold a Masonic lodge to be known as Perfection Lodge. Robert Dunn then
took the chair as W.M. and appointed the following brethren to the different
chairs in the Lodge, i.e.

s. w.

Amos McComb

D. C.

Sam J. Inksater

J. w.

Eric J. S. Brown

Organist

Charles Allison

Chaplain

David King

I. G.

Ernest Fox

Treas.

Alex Jones

S. S.

Thomas B. Griffin

Sec.

Gordon Sherk

J. S.

Ralsey C. Davis

S. D.

Francis Coy

Tyler

Grover H. Davis

J. D.

Wm. A. Anderson

On 29 October 1923 there was an important emergent meeting of the
Lodge. The W.M. Robert Dunn called the lodge to order and the beautiful
Ceremony of Cqnstitution and Consecrating was conducted by M.W. Bro.
Drope, assisted by D.D.G.M. Damude and many other Grand Lodge officers.
The same officers were all confirmed in their chairs. There was a very large
attendance of visiting brethren and the evening was brought to a close with
a happy and satisfying social hour. M. W. Bro. G. M. Drope was by motion
of the Lodge made an honorary member of Perfection Lodge, which was
numbered 616 on the Registry of Grand Lodge.

The first three candidates got their Entered Apprentice degree on
January 8, 1923, while the lodge was still under dispensation. They were

—1083—

Frederick John Lowe, Manufacturer, William A. Black, Merchant and
Norman S. Gumming, Railway Superintendent.

Grand Lodge Honours were not slow in coming to the new lodge and
through the years the following received recognition for faithful services
rendered to Perfection Lodge and Masonry in general :

Robt. L. Dunn, Grand Sword Bearer, 1923

Dr. John Herod, D.D.G.M. Niagara 10 B. 1919-1920

S. J. Inksater, D.D.G.M. Niagara 10 A. 1933-1934

B. D. Hull, G.S., 1934

Grove Davis, G.S. 1936

George McCalla, D.D.G.M. Niagara A, 1942-1943

W. A. Brown. G.S. 1943

P. G. Moore, G.S. 1948

W. C. Ellis, D.D.G.M. Niagara A, 1954-1955

Ross Yeo. G.S. 1955

Perfection Lodge showed progress from the beginning. Starting with
sixteen charter members and several affiliates, sixteen new candidates were
initiated during the first year and throughout most of its history it has
continued to progress. At the time of this writing in 1962 there is an enrol-
ment of 225 brethren in good standing.

St. Andrews Lodge No. 661

St. Catharines has long been noted for the special groups that assemble
to confer degrees. One of the most prominent was composed of brethren with
Scottish background. On invitation they visited many of the District lodges
to confer degrees and instal masters. This group kept quite intact for many
years.

In January 1949, a number of the group gathered at the home of James
Thomson with the view of forming a new lodge. Joseph Backus acted as
chairman and Edwin MacLean as secretary. It was decided to seek a dispen-
sation and the following were selected as the first officers :

W. M.

James Thomson

S. D.

Muir

I. P.

John Johnstone

J. D.

Hourston

S. W.

A. R. Blaik

S. S.

R. Allison

J. W.

David M. Donnelly

J. S.

Hunter

Treas.

Alex Mitchell

D. of C.

W. G. Scott

Secy.

J. H. Cunningham

Tyler

Garland

Chap.

J. Davidson

Along with the officers were the following charter members, Joseph
Backus, Ed. MacLean, James J. Anderson, John Storrie, Harry MacPherson,
Robert Dunn.

The title, St. Andrew's Lodge, was chosen because Andrew was the
second Apostle to be called, also that he was the Patron Saint of Scotland.

—1084—

Like his Master, Andrew was crucified on a cross. His cross, however,
was in the form of an "X", which later became known as St. Andrew's Cross.

On February 25, 1949, a dispensation was presented to the new lodge
by Chas. H. Hesburn, D.D.G.M. of Niagara District A,

The evening of September 23, 1949, was one of lasting interest. At the
close of the work of the evening, James S. Anderson, W.M. of Temple Lodge
assumed the Masters Chair. He requested the Past Masters and members of
Temple Lodge form a St. Andrew's Cross on the floor of the lodge. He
then asked the officers of St. Andrew's Lodge to stand opposite their opposite
numbers of Temple Lodge in their respective places. Brother Anderson in-
structed his officers each to present a collar and jewel to the officer opposite
him. When this was completed, numerous other presentations were made.

The warrant was delivered and presented on October 28, 1949 by M. W.
Bro. T. H. Simpson, P.G.M. assisted by many other past and present Grand
Lodge officers.

On March 3, 1950, further presentations were made. On this occasion
J. Johnstone, W. B. H. MacPherson and J. Hollinshead presented the lodge
with the Union Jack, the Canadian Ensign and St. Andrew's Flag. They
were of silk with silk cords and tassels. The bases were metal and teakwood
with the thistle carved upon them.

On April 21, 1950, Ed Armstrong of Dominion Regalia, Toronto, pre-
sented Royal Stuart tartan ribbons to the officers of the lodge. These tartans
were to be worn from the left shoulder across the chest to the right side and
were to be part of the officer's dress on special occasions and when visiting.

This Lodge expanded very rapidly until now it has over 160 members on its
roll. One of the charter members, Fred R. Allison served as D.D.G.M.
in 1960.

Grantham Lodge No. 697

Following World War II, Grantham Township, which surrounded St.
Catharines, grew rapidly in population. Many new sub-divisions were opened
and filled. Among the new residents, many were members of the Masonic
order, a considerable number of whom affiliated with the older established
lodges.

By 1958, there grew the need and desire to establish a new lodge to serve
this growing area. The leader of the movement was Ben. Schaab, a past
master and secretary of Seymour Lodge. On May 6, he called a meeting of
interested brethren at the home of S. D. Costen. Eight past masters attended.
They represented seven lodges. At this meeting it was decided to apply for a
dispensation for a new lodge to be known as Grantham Lodge and which
would meet in the lodge room at Port Dalhousie, owned by Seymour Lodge.

—1085—

The latter lodge offered to sponsor its neighbour. A tentative slate of officers
was selected as follows :

W. M.

G. White

I. P. M.

E. Schaab

S. W.

L. Collard

J. W.

McClennan

Secy.

. W. Tanner

Treas.

H. Nicholson

D. of C.

R. Schrumm

Chaplain

S. VV. Bunston

S. D.

A. Hartley

J. D.

S. A. Stevens

I. G.

S. D. Costen

S. S.

W. S. Coolin

J. s.

R. Abercrombie

Tyler

N. C. Brewster

The charter was presented on September 29, 1958 by M. W. Bro. W. J.
Dunlop. It contained the names of thirty- four members. At the close of the
ceremony, Dr. Dunlop was made an honorary member.

This, the newest lodge of the city, has the virility of youth and is making
rapid strides.

Mount Moriah Chapter, R.A.M., No. 14

The Grand Lodge of Canada was founded in 1855, to be followed two
years later by the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons. This gave a great
impetus to all branches of Masonry. The need was felt for Capitular Masonry
to be active in the Niagara Peninsula, so the nineteenth warrant in that area
was given to Mount Moriah Chapter on February 21, 1861.

The organization meeting was held on July 10, 1860 in the lodge room
on Ontario Street with the following in attendance :

James Seymour
Dr. Edwin Goodman
Charles R. Camp
John T. Parker
Henry G. Keefer
Fred Parsons
Dr. Theophilus Mack
Robert Wilson
Thomas Bird Harris

St. John's Chapter No. 6, Hamilton
St. John's Chapter No. 6, Hamilton
St. John's Chapter No. 6, Hamilton
St. Andrew's Chapter No. 4, Toronto
Washington Chapter No. 13, Marysville, Cal.
Ames Chapter No. 88, Lockport, N.Y.
Buffalo Chapter No. 71, Buffalo, N.Y.
King Solomon Chapter No. 8, Toronto
Hiram Chapter No. 2, Hamilton

A petition was forwarded to Grand Chapter and a dispensation was
granted on January 19, 1861. On January 22, the Grand Superintendent for
the Hamilton district installed the Principals. On February 21, the warrant
was presented.

Among those early Companions who brought lustre to themselves and
Mount Moriah Chapter was most Excellent Companion James Seymour.
He was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1824 and came to Halifax, N.S., when
but four years of age. His boyhood days were spent in the Maritimes. Later
he became associated with the Toronto Globe and the Hamilton Spectator
and finally purchased the St. Catharines Constitution. This was then an
influential weekly newspaper. He continued to publish it till he was appointed
Collector of Inland Revenue in 1884. As already mentioned he was a charter

—1086—

member of this Chapter, becoming its First Principal. He was also very
active in Maple Leaf Lodge, No. 103, becoming its first junior warden and
its Worshipful Master in 1860. He was elected Grand Master of the Grand
Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario in 1871 and the Grand First
Principal of the Grand Chapter of Ontario in 1874. His election took place
at a Convocation of Grand Chapter held in St. Catharines to which Mount
Moriah Chapter acted as host.

Another equally illustrious i^ompanion was Dr. Theophilus Mack who
also came from Ireland, the city of Dublin, where he was born April 20, 1820.
He came to Canada and trained as a doctor in one of the marine corps. This
was in Amherstburg.and Geneva College, N.Y. He returned to Canada and
began to practise medicine in St. Catharines, Ont., in 1884. An interesting
event in his very busy life was when he was called to Toronto to attend
Hon. George Brown, one of the Fathers of Confederation, after Brown had
been shot by an assassin. Dr. Mack also became famous as the doctor who
started the first training school for nurses in Canada. This is now known
as the Mack Training School for Nurses and is still located in St. Catharines,
where Dr. Mack founded it in 1874. He was also interested in the local
mineral springs and built Springbank for sick people coming to take the
waters at the springs. He was also the founder of St. Catharines General
Hospital. He was an enthusiastic Mason and was a charter member of
Mount Moriah Chapter No. 19 and its first Scribe **E". He was also a
member of St. George's Lodge No. 15.

Included in that memorable and cherished group was another local
medical doctor, Dr. E. Goodman. He assisted Dr. Mack in organizing St.
Catharines General Hospital. He was attached to the local militia during the
Fenian Raids of 1866 and was on active service at the Battle of Ridgeway
in 1866. He was a charter member of Mount Moriah and became its first
Second Principal.

E^rly members came from widely scattered parts of the Peninsula,
namely St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara, Centreville, Port Dalhousie, St.
Davids, Queenston, Stamford, Grimsby, Dunnville, Beamsville, Welland,
Clifton, Black Creek and Fort Erie. It must have taken real interest in
Capitular Masonry for these companions to be regular attendants. Old
records attest to the fact that those farthest away would drive some ten miles,
change horses, drive another ten miles, repeat the performance and so on
until they arrived at St. Catharines, repeating the undertaking in reverse
after the meeting. Companions were picked up along the way and these
meetings were eagerly anticipated.

Despite distance, weather and other hindrances the Chapter gradually
grew and by 1904 had reached a membership of 100 members — a remarkable
increase from the nine charter members in 1861. During the next fourteen
years it doubled its membership again. There were also poor years. In each

—1087—

of the years 1893, 1887, 1931 there were no Mark Masters made, although
there were two affiliates in 1931. One highlight was that wonderful night,
February 13, 1953 when 12 brethren were advanced to the honorary degree
of Mark Master Mason. Again one reads with delight of January 5, 1866
when 12 brethren journeyed from Dunnville, with other companions and were
also advanced. The year 1921 was a banner year and one still referred to by
the older companions, because that year 36 brethren received their M.M.M.
degree.

Early history of the Chapter shows that the officers came from every
walk of life. Among the First Principals were 3 teachers, 4 farmers, 4
doctors, 8 merchants, 3 lawyers and 1 clergyman.

Besides the Convocation of Grand Chapter held in St. Catharines in
1875, a second Convocation was held here in 1936.

In those early days Chapters worked four degrees, namely M.M.M. ;
P.M.; M.E.M.; and R.A.M. This caused considerable difficulties with the
Grand Chapter of England which was not resolved till the year Mount
Moriah was granted its charter, namely 1861. Irregularities in granting the
P.M. degree in Ontario Chapters caused this degree to be discontinued in
1896. Today New York Chapters frequently work this degree for our com-
panions and grant them a certificate to this effect, making it possible for them
to visit chapters 'across the river'. Local companions have always appre-
ciated this gesture of good will and many avail themselves of this courtesy
each year.

Plantagenet Preceptory No. 8 Knights Templars (1866)

The first record we have of the Knights Templars in St. Catharines
was on July 10 and 11, 1862, when the seventh annual assembly was held in
this community. At this session it was announced that the Supreme Grand
Conclave had granted authority to the Provincial Grand Conclave to regulate
its own fees of honour, and that the power of granting dispensation for new
Encampments would be vested in future in the Provincial Grand Commander.
The Grand Conclave immediately amended its regulations to provide for
these important concessions.

At this meeting the several degrees, or points, of Knight of the Sword,
Knight of the East, and Knight of the East and West were conferred by the
Grand Commander on such fraters present as had not previously received them.

The elevenj:h annual assembly was held in St. Catharines on August 15,
1866. On this occasion a petition was received, dated March 20, 1866, from
a number of knights resident in St. Catharines and vicinity, praying for
authority to open an encampment in St. Catharines, to be called Plantagenet
A dispensation was immediately issued, pending the receipt of a warrant from
England.

—1088—

According to an old record book of this organization, a meeting had
previously been held in the Masonic Hall. In attendance were:

Dr. Theophilus Mack, Lake Erie Encampment, Buffalo
James Seymour, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamliton
Dr. Edwin Goodman, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamilton
Isaac Pemberton Wilson, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamilton
William McGhie, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamilton

The petition for a dispensation contained these additional names :

James Mackay, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamilton
John Walter Murton, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamilton
Thomas Bird Harris, Godfrey de Buillon Encampment, Hamilton
The Hamilton Encampment was the sponsoring body.

The charter listed the following as first officers :

E. Com. James Seymour

1st Capt. Edwin Goodman

2nd Capt. Theophilus Mack

Registrar and Capt. Lines William McGhie

Equerry Isaac P. Willson

The first regular assembly was held on January 14, 1867 at which time
there were applications from thirteen members of Mount Moriah Chapter.

The Preceptory grew and prospered and although many times there were
only six or seven in attendance, yet there was much interest in the work of
the Preceptory. Repeatedly the end of the year report claimed two or three
new members with one or two being removed from the roll for various reasons.
It was a time of rejoicing when in 1871 four new knights were added to the
roll and none during the year removed.

The regular meeting of April 14, 1873, had a long report of the discussions
taking place as regards a Convent General for the whole British Empire
and the report was closed advising that the Fraters keep a close watch on
developments. It was at this time that the word Masonic was dropped.
Encampments became Preceptories and Commanders became Preceptors ; the
titles "Chaplain", "Constable" and "Marshall" replaced the titles of Prelate
and First and Second Captains. The use of the Masonic apron was also
discontinued at this time. At this regular meeting the officers were addressed
by their new titles. The Convent General delayed for a long time in acceding
to the request of the Canadian body to have its own Great Priory and Plan-
tagenet was wholeheartedly behind the agitation, and finally in 1876 Plan-
tagenet exchanged its English Charter for one issued by the National Great
Priory of Canada. This was in 1876.

From that time on Plantagenet continued to progress with good men and
true in charge of the work. They builded well and they builded truly and
as a result, as Plantagenet nears its centennial, it is in good financial position
and has at present a membership of approximately 100 knights.

—1089—

In Retrospect

Almost 150 eventful years have passed into history since Masonry was
established in St. Catharines. Its members have taken a leading part in
civic, religious and social undertakings. Many have attained renown in their
various fields. The many citizens who have practised Masonic precepts and
tried to model their lives on its teaching, goes to proye that the mission of the
organization has been eminently successful. We, who follow in their foot-
steps, can look back with pleasurable pride.

APPENDIX I

The corner stone of St. George's Church, St. Catharines, was laid with
full Masonic honours on the 20th of July, 1835.

The scroll deposited beneath the corner stone reads as follows:

ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH
Diocese of Quebec

Episcopal Bishops: The Right Reverend Lord Bishop Mountain.

Second and now present Bishop : The Hon. and Right Rev. Chas. J. Stewart.

The Foundation or Corner Stone of the Church was laid in the Town
of St. Catharines, on Monday, the 20th day of July, in Anno Lucis 1835 and
in the fifth of the Reign of William 4th of Great Britain and Ireland, King,
Defender of the Faith, etc.

A.D. 1835

The present Incumbent of the Church, The Rev. James Clarke.

In the year of Our Lord 1795 the Honourable Robert Hamilton of
Queenston granted to George Adams and Thomas Merritt, Esquires, two acres
of land in St. Catharines, in trust to them and their successors for the site
of a Church and burial ground for the Church of England, in the Province
of Upper Canada, upon which a church was erected, but the great increase of
population of this town requiring a more extensive and suitable building
wherein to perform public worship, the new trustees — Henry Mittleberger
and Elias Adams — have disposed of the said grant in order to enable them
to erect the building which now encloses this scroll. For that purpose Wm.
Hamilton Merritt, Esquire, has also conveyed to Henry Mittleberger and
Elias Adams, Esquires, trustees and elected Churchwardens for the Township
of Grantham, one acre and one-tenth of land, to which they have added, by
purchase from the funds of the Church lands granted by the late Honourable
Robert Hamilton, a piece of ground for a burial place in front of which this
Church now stands : being 45 x 60 feet.

Erected during the administration of Sir John Colborne, K.C.B., Lieu-
tenant-Governor of the Province.

—1090-

Builders of Mason Work, James Gilleland, Sr. ; of Joiner Work, Samuel
Haight.

Saint George's Lodge No. 15, at St. Catharines: first Provincial Grand
Master, Rt. Worshipful George Adams.

Former Masters in Succession: —

Worshipful Thomas Merritt Worshipful George Adams

Worshipful Amos McKinney Worshipful Charles Ingersoll

Worshipful Ebenezer Colliver Worshipful Robert Campbell

Worshipful Peter Ten Broek Pawling Worshipful Jonathan H. Clendennan

Worshipful George Rykert Worshipful Peter S. Campbell

Worshipful Jacob Dittrick Worshipful David William Smith

Present Officers of the Lodge : —

Jonathan H. Clendennan, W.M.

Lewis Traver, S.W.

George Ackert, J.W.

Samuel Dolson, S.D.
Joseph Markwell (deceased), J.D.

Elias S. Adams, Secretary

Peter Smith Campbell, Treasurer

John Wright, Tyler

Population of St. Catharines in February A.D. 1835 as taken by the
assessors — 1,130. Contains an ancient "Episcopal Church," a "Roman
Catholic Church" a "Presbyterian Church" (not completed), a "Canadian
Wesleyan Methodist Chapel" — and a Chapel for people of colour.

The above is taken from "Historic and Centenary Review" — By the
Reverend Robert Ker.

APPENDIX II

Special Communication of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Canada West,
at St. Catharines, October 1848.

In October of 1848, the impressive ceremonial of laying a corner stone
at St. Catharines was performed by R. W. Bro. Sir Allan N. MacNab, the
Provincial Grand Master. An especial meeting had been summoned for the
purpose, and the ceremony was not only attended by a large number of
brethren of Grand Lodge and the private lodges in the vicinity, but was
viewed by an immense concourse of people from the town and surrounding
country. The official minutes read:

"At an especial meeting of the P. Grand Lodge, holden at St. Catharines,
on Monday, the 30th day of October, 1848, for the purpose of laying the
foundation stone of a Town Hall, in the course of erection in that place.

—1091—

Present

The Right Worshipful Bro. Sir Allan Napier MacNab, Provincial Grand

Master.
The Right Worshipful Bro. Thomas Gibbs Ridout, Deputy Provincial

Grand Master.
W. Bro. Henry Melville, as P. Grand Senior Warden
V. W. Bro. P. V. Meyerhoffer, as P.G. Chaplain
V. W. Bro. Alexander Burnside, P.G. Treasurer
V. W. Bro. Robert McClure, P.G. Registrar
V. W. Bro. Francis Richardson, P.G. Secretary
W. Bro. Charles Lynes, P.G. Senior Deacon
W. Bro. George Rykert, P.G. Junior Deacon
Bro. Kivas Tully, P.G. Superintendent of Works
V. W. Bro. Richard Watson, as P.G. Director of Ceremonies
W. Bro. W. M. Wilson, P.G. Sword Bearer
Bro. Thomas Duggan, W. Bro. Nathan Gatchell, Bro. J. L. Rannay,

P.G. Stewards
Bro. Henry Schallehn, Bro. W. F. Murray, Bro. R. L. Fitzgerald,

P.G. Stewards
Bro. John Morrison, P.G. Tyler
The Masters, Past Masters, and Wardens of several lodges.

The Provincial Grand Lodge was opened in due form at 4 o'clock p.m.,
with solemn prayer.

The Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master having stated the purpose
for which the Provincial Grand Lodge had been assembled, directed the
Provincial Grand Director of Ceremonies to form the procession. The
brethren then proceeded to the site of the intended building, and the band
having played "Rule Britannia," the Right Worshipful Deputy Provincial
Grand Master delivered to the people the following address : —

"Men, women and children, here assembled to-day, to behold this cere-
mony, know all of you, that we be lawful Masons, true to the laws of our
country, and established of old, with peace and honour, in most countries, to
do good to our brethren, to build great buildings and to fear God, who is the
great Architect of all things. We have among us concealed from the eyes
of all men, secrets which may not be revealed, and which no man has
discovered; but these secrets are lawful and honourable to know by Masons,
who only have the keeping of them to the end of time. Unless our Craft
were good and our calling honourable, we should not have lasted so many
centuries, nor should we have had so many illustrious brothers in our Order,
ready to promote our laws and further our interests. To-day we are here
assembled in the presence of you all, to build a hall for the public use of this
town, which we pray God may prosper, if it seem good to Him, that it may
become a building for good men and good deeds, and promote harmony and
brotherly love till the world itself shall end." ^- So mote it be.

—1092—

The Provincial Grand Chaplain offered up prayer, invoking the protection
of the Great Architect of the Universe to the building, after which the Pro-
vincial Grand Secretary read the inscription engraven on the plate. The
Provincial Grand Treasurer deposited a bottle containing coins, papers, etc.,
in the cavity. The P. Grand Secretary placed the inscription plate on it, and
cement was placed on the lower stone.

The trowel (of silver) was then presented to R. W. Provincial Grand
Master by the President of the Board of Police, who in presenting it read
the follownig inscription : —

Presented to

SIR A. N. MacNAB, M.P.P.,

Provincial Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons for Canada West.
By the President and Members of the Board of Police, on the occasion of
laying the corner stone of a Town Hall and Market House at St. Catharines,
on the 30th October, 1848.

To which the R.W. Provincial Grand Master made a suitable reply.

The R. W. Provincial Grand Master then proceeded to spread the
cement, and the stone was lowered in its place, the band playing the National
Anthem; after which he was pleased to prove that the stone was truly adjusted
by the plumb rule, level and square, which were successively handed to him
by the Senior and Junior Grand Wardens and Deputy Provincial Grand
Master, when the Mall being also presented to him by the R. W. Deputy
Provincial Grand Master, he gave the stone three distinct knocks, and said: —

"May the Great Architect of the Universe grant a blessing on this foun-
dation stone which we have now laid, and by His Providence enable us to
finish every other work which may be undertaken for the benefit and advan-
tage of this town."

The Cornucopia, containing corn, and two ewers, containing wine and
oil, were then successively presented by the Deputy Provincial Grand Master
to the Provincial Grand Master, who scattered the corn and poured out the
oil and wine upon the stone, saying: —

"May the all-bounteous Author of nature grant an abundance of corn,
wine and oil, with all other necessaries, conveniences and comforts to this
town, and may the same Providence preside over and preserve it from ruin
and decay to the latest posterity."

The Provincial Grand Superintendent of Works then presented the plans
of the building to the Provincial Grand Master, who inspected and returned
them to him, together with the several working implements, and thus addressed
him: —

"Mr. Architect, the foundation stone of this Town Hall, planned in much
wisdom by you, being now laid, and these implements having been applied
to it by me, and approved of, I now return them to you in full confidence
that as a skilful and faithful workman you will cause them to be used in such
a manner that the building may rise in order, harmony and beauty, and being
perfected in strength, will answer every purpose for which it is intended, to
your credit and to the honour of those who have selected you."

-1093—

The above ceremonies being completed, an address was delivered by W.
Bro. W. M, Wilson, P. Grand Sword Bearer, and P. M. St. John's Lodge,
Simcoe, who had been appointed to perform the duties of Grand Orator for
the occasion ; after which an address was presented by the President of the
Board of Police to the Provincial Grand Master, who made a suitable reply
thereto.

The procession was then re-formed and returned to the lodge room in
the usual manner ; after which

The Provincial Grand Lodge was closed in due form at half-past six
o'clock p.m., with solemn prayer.

(signed) FRANCIS RICHARDSON,

Prov. Grand Secretary."

APPENDIX III

Temple Lodge No. 296.
Charter Members as shown on Charter in Lodge Room.

This Charter was issued by Most Wor. Bro. Wm. M. Wilson, Grand
Master Rt. Wor. Bro. Thomas White, Jr., Deputy Grand Master and Rt.
Wor. Bro. T. B. Harris, Grand Scribe, A.D. 10 July, 1873.

Lucius Sterne Oille W.M.

William F. Biggar S.W.

Calvin Brown J.W.

James Seymour

Robert McFate

James McEdward Secretary

John McB. Currie

John Riordan

Robert Matheson

Frederick A. Baker I.G.

George Graves

John W. Cox J.S.

Laugblin Leitch Treasurer

James Binley Benson

Robert Ness J.D.

Roswell H. Smith

James D. Tait

TTieodore Thompson S.D.

William Walter Greenwood D.C.

APPENDIX IV

Organization of St. Catharines Masonic Association, 1871

Be It Remembered that on this Thirty- first day of January in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one

We the Undersigned have resolved to form Ourselves into a Company
according to the Provisions of a certain Act of the Parliament of Canada

— 1Q94—

passed in the Twenty-third year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria
Chapter Thirty-one entitled "The Joint Stock Companies Judicial Incor-
poration Act" to be called "The Masonic Association of St. Catharines"
for the purpose of erecting a building to be used in part as a Mechanics'
Institute or Public Reading or Lecture Room on the Town of St. Catharines
in the County of Lincoln and Province of Ontario.

And We do hereby further Declare that the Capital Stock of the said
Association shall be fifteen thousand dollars which shall be divided into
Six hundred Shares of twenty-five dollars each.

And We whose names are subscribed hereto with our respective address
calling and amount of Subscription are the persons making this Declaration
and that

Albert Chat field, Robert Struthers and George Groves All of the said
Town of St. Catharines shall be the First Directors of the said Association
or Company.

Names

Albert Chatfield, Trustee

George Groves,

Robert Struthers, Trustee

James Seymour

Edwin Goodman

Albert George Brown

Calvin Brown

Henry Carlisle

George Groves

James Davidson Tait

James McEdward

James Birdall Fowler

Peter McCarthy

William McAndrews

Emanuel Nethenvery

Daniel Webster Bixby

Robert Hill McMullin

Robert Struthers

William Walker Greenwood

Joseph Edward Beeton

Lewis Nelson Soper

Louis Dorr

John William Coy

Samuel Goodfellow Dolson

Levi Yale

James Albert Mills

William Byles Beeton

Lucius Sterne Oille

Address

St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines
St. Catharines

Calling

Amount

Manufacturer

$ 800.00

Official Assignee

700.00

Merchant

1,500.00

Collector Internal Revenue

400.00

Physician

400.00

Barrister

400.00

Barrister

400.00

Merchant

400.00

Official Assignee

100.00

Merchant

200.00

Accountant

50.00

Merchant

400.00

Barrister

200.00

Merchant

50.00

Merchant

100.00

Bookseller

100.00

Jeweller

100.00

Merchant

100.00

Druggist

100.00

Druggist

50.00

Music Dealer

100.00

Mason

200.00

Merchant

25.00

Builder

400.00

Manufacturer

200.00

Machinist

100.00

Druggist

200.00

Physician

400.00

J. McPhee, — Registrar of the
County of Lincoln to the Signature
Witness of Albert Chatfield and J. McPhee

W. W. Powell, Deputy Registrar of
the said County as to all the
remaining signatures.

—1095-

—1096-

4.,

a— ^iiH— ^iii(^^iii<— n^^m-^aa^^iiii— ^•«2(

«l

No. 62

CANADIAN

ASSOCIATION

Ontario's Pioneer Lodge

MASONIC RESEARCH ij

NIAGARA LODGE No. 2, G.R.C.O. i!

. I 1 1

jl Niogara-on-the-Loke, Ont. jj

■
I

I !l

I By V. W. Bro. ]. Lawrence Runnalls I

!• 1

j Read at the 32nd Meeting of the Association, held at j |

» I ■

! St. Catharines, Ont., November 14, 1961. {l

i Ii

.. ,. ,._. . ,— .. . — . — 4.

—1097—

Foreword

Niagara Lodge No. 2 A.F. and A.M., G.R.C., is the senior lodge in
the Province of Ontario. It seems odd to the casual reader to learn that it
holds the number two and that there is no lodge with number one. There
was a lodge called the Grand Master's Lodge, at Niagara, that held first
place but it did not long survive. Between 1846 and 1855, St. Andrew's
Lodge in Toronto held first place. However, when the Canadian Grand
Lodge was formed, it remained outside. In the re-numbering in 1856, the
Lodge of Social and Military Virtues of Montreal was given the first
number. When the Grand Lodge of Quebec was formed, it was erased
leaving Niagara Lodge as the first.

Niagara Lodge is heir to Masonry of the early days of the Niagara
frontier, with its numerous lodges that operated from time to time. With
the exception of a few years, when the Craft everywhere in the Province
was quite inactive. Masons have met at, or in the vicinity of, Niagara
since 1773.

It is little wonder that the brethren of this lodge are proud of
their heritage.

—1098-

Niai>ara Masonic Hall — On the Site of Ontario's First Masonic Building.

—1099—

EARLY HISTORY OF NIAGARA

The word Niagara is an Indian word full of meaning. Guinagarah,
Ongiara, or Niagara, along with nearly forty one other forms of the word,
which in the Neutral tongue means "The Strait," was the name given
to that part of Ontario lying between the Lakes, Erie and Ontario. The
Indians had a village on the plains at the mouth of the river on its west
side.

The town, when peopled by newcomers from the newly-formed United
States, became known in turn as Loyal \^illage, Butlersburg, West Niagara,
Nassau, Newark, Niagara and now the post office is named Niagara-on-the-
Lake. (To distinguish it from Niagara Falls — a few miles to the south.)
It has been said that to know the history of Niagara is to know the history
of Upper Canada. Niagara was at different times a legislative, military,
literary, commercial, naval, educational and social centre ; the centre too of
the Indian trade and the refuge of escaped slaves. A town, that has been
the scene of a battle, that had the first parliament, two of the first churches,
the first library, the first newspaper and the first agricultural society in
Ontario, may claim to be of special interest to the historian.

The site of the town was, at the coming of the white man, the abode
of the Neutral Indians, so called because in the wars between the Iroquois
and the Hurons they took no part.

The first European visitor of which there is record was Father Daillon
who is said to have celebrated mass on the west side of the river in 1624.
Galinee and Dollier came in 1640 and again in 1669. In 1679, Sieur de la
Salle camped there en route to the upper lakes. He built his famous ship,
Griffon, higher up the river.

By the treaty of 1764, concluded by Sir William Johnson, the Indians
ceded a tract on both sides of the river to the British.

The first white settlement began in 1779, when settlers tried to raise
farm produce for the military establishment at Fort Niagara on the east
side of the river at its mouth. Two years later, Colonel John Butler had
four or five families settled in homes. He mentioned Peter and James
Secord, two of the families who were about to erect a saw and grist mill.
In a petition to Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, dated August 1, 1794, Peter
Secord asserted that he was "the first settler on land in this country."

In a survey of settlement at Niagara on August 25, 1782, there were
sixteen heads of families listed as follows : Isaac Dobson, Peter Secord, John
Secord, James Secord, George Stuart, John Depue, George Field, Daniel
Rose, Elijah Phelps, Philip Bender, Samuel Lutz, Michael Showers, Hermanus
House, Thomas McMieken, Adam Young and McGregor Van Every. A
number a these settlers had been among the famous Butler's Rangers. Butler
himself, who had assumed the position of Acting Superintendent of the Six
Nations, had made his headquarters at Fort Niagara from 1777 onward.

— 1100—

In 1792, Canada was divided into two provinces by the Constitutional
Act (Canada Act). John Graves Simcoe was named as the first Lieutenant-
Governor of the upper province called Canada West or Upper Canada. He
chose Niagara as the first capital, re-naming it Newark, and called parliament
for November, 1792. By 1797, the government had moved to Toronto (York)
to be more central and to be more distant from the United States border.
But Niagara continued to be the centre of life for the western part of the
province for years to come.

After the withdrawal of the capital, Niagara continued to be the
County town for Lincoln. When St. Catharines attained this honour in
1862, the old town gradually diminished in importance until today it is
quaint with its old forts, Navy Hall, historic churches and former mansions.

LODGE NO. 156 OF THE EIGHTH OR KING'S
REGIMENT OF FOOT

The Grand Lodge of England (Moderns) began the practice, mid-way
in the eighteenth century, of granting travelling warrants to military units.
The first of these went to the 8th or King's Regiment of Foot. This
regiment was organized in 1685 and was first named the Queen's Regiment
in honour of Queen Anne. In 1751 under King George I, it was changed
to the 8th or King's Regiment.

In May 1768, the regiment embarked for America and after spending
several years at Quebec, Montreal and Chambly, it was ordered in 1773 to
Niagara and was stationed at Fort Niagara. It remained there for twelve
years when it was relieved by the 65th Regiment to take up duties at Detroit.
In 1808, it returned to England but subsequently served at Quebec, Montreal,
Kingston and York. Once again it returned to Niagara, this time being
quartered on the west side of the river at Fort George.

Records in the Grand Lodge of England list certificates of five members
of this lodge. They are : Joseph Clement, Henry Nelles, Henry W. Nelles,
and Daniel Servos. The first four were issued when the men were in
Canada, the fifth after the regiment returned to Salisbury, England. Joseph
Clement's certificate was dated 1780.

The Lodge of the 8th or King's Regiment was warranted on February 15,
1755 and was given the number 255. The first meeting place was at the
Haunch of Venison, Maidstone, Kent. Soon it was moved to Salisbury where
it made its main location for many years to come.

Soon the number was changed to 195 and, in 1770, to 156. In later years
it bore the numbers 124, 125 and 112. Grand Lodge erased the lodge in
1813 at the union of the two grand lodges.

While the regiment was stationed at Fort Niagara between the years
1773 - 1785, the lodge met in a stone building called "The Castle," a part of
the fort.

—1101 —

The only trace of the work of this lodge is a letter written by the
master to the grand secretary acknowledging the receipt of a letter
containing the renewal of the warrant. On the arrival in Canada, the lodge
had placed itself on the roll of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec and was
given the Number 5. This number had originally belonged to the sea lodge
of H.M.S. Canceaux but in 1771 the vessel left Quebec and the number was
considered vacant. The letter referred to above is as follows :

Niagara, 26th July, 1781.
Dear Brother,

This is to inform you that acknowledged the receipt of your letter,
dated 31st March, 1779, (with which we also received a renewal of our
warrant, etc.) last year. We are now glad to have an opportunity of re-
mitting by the Bearer (Brother Pollard) Five Guineas to the R.W. Grand
Lodge, which is to be disposed of as they may think fit.

From the uncertainty of corresponding with you in these times. We beg
leave to inform you, that we have on that account, renewed our correspon-
dence with the Provincial Grand Lodge at Quebec, to whom we make such
Donations as our circumstances will admit of ; which correspondence, we
hope, will meet with the R.W. Grand Lodge's approbation . . . notwith-
standing which, we mean to keep up regular correspondence that you
observe to use in your last Letter by every safe opportunity.

We wish to have any Regulations, etc., which may have happened since
we heard from you last, sent unto us, and all Demands whatever shall be duly
honored. In the meantime, I beg leave, in the Names of the rest of the
Brethren of Lodge No. 156, to subscribe myself with respect.

Dear Brother,

Your most obedient and
most humble servant,

John McLauchlan, Mr.,
Sergt. King's (or 8th) Regiment.

James Heseltine, Esq.

While the lodge was stationed at Niagara, its membership was about forty.
(In 1779, there was a complement of 386 at various establishments in Upper
Canada). Appendix III is a copy of the register of this lodge between the years
1776 and 1789 as kept by the Grand Lodge of England. The names of the
non-commissioned officers are not mentioned.)

Records indicate that members of the military lodges became the founders
of the permanent lodges in the areas where they were stationed. The first of
these in the Niagara peninsula was St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2. It is
unfortunate that records have not been left showing how the early Masons
fraternized in pioneer days. It may be taken for granted that there was
much coming and going of brethren across the Niagara River.

— 1102—

ST. JOHN'S LODGE OF FRIENDSHIP NO. 2,

TOWNSHIP OF NIAGARA

1782 - 1794

As stated before, Lodge No. 156 was a military lodge stationed at Fort
Niagara on the east side of the Niagara River at its mouth. To complement
this, civilians on the west side were organized into a lodge, known as St. John's
Lodge of Friendship in 1782. Records indicate that this lodge bore the number
2 but its origin is vague. It is supposed that it was warranted by the Grand
Lodge of Ireland. Dubious proof of this is found in the record of a visitor in
1824 to St. Andrew's Lodge No. 1, P.R., York (Toronto). He registered
as being a member of "No. 2, Registry of Ireland". It is supposed he became
a member of St. John's Lodge between 1781-90.

The lodge was held at several sites in the township.

The earliest petition extant is that of Joseph Brown dated September 14,
1782. Later the lodge met in his home which was on Lot 13, Township of
Niagara, almost midway between Queenston and Niagara along the River
Road. Along with this petition, there were several others found. They were
of:

James Cooper, 1782 (no date)

Charles Field, Aug. 7, 1787

Jesse Hubbard, Apr. 16, 1790

Minor Bredt, Apr. 30, 1790

Thos. Clark, Apr. 18, 1796

There are also recorded others initiated in this lodge. Among them were :
Thos. Ingersol, John Clow, John Chrysler and James Secord.

The fact that all of the early petitions from this lodge during the years
1782-1790, and those of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2 under the Jarvis
warrant 1796-1810, were found tied into one package and labelled St. John's
Lodge of Friendship No. 2, Niagara" indicate that the lodge warranted in
1795 was a continuation of the early lodge.

ST. JOHN'S LODGE NO. 19, AT NIAGARA

1787 - 1794

It is quite difficult to differentiate among the several St. John's Lodges at
Niagara. No fewer than three were in operation between 1782 and 1822. It
is supposed that there was a very close connection among these Lodges, the
first two merging to form the third.

The second St. John's Lodge was warranted on October 10, 1787. Its
authority came from the Provincial Grand Lodge of Quebec, which worked
under the Grand Lodge of England (Moderns). It was given the number 19
in the provincial register and 521 on the English register.

The first master was Colonel John Butler and the secretary was Ralfe
Clench.

—1103—

It was customary for a selected committee to carry on organizational
work and to communicate with the Grand Secretary in England. On October
23, 1787, the committee wTote as follows:

"Upon the Petition of Lieut. Colonel Butler a warrant was granted, 19th
Inst., constituting a lodge at Niagara by the name of St. John's Lodge No. 19,
of which our said Bro. Col. Butler is appointed Master ; the Fee of five
guineas for the same together with our annual donation of One Guinea will be
given you by our W. Brother Adams Lymburner, Esqr."

A further meeting was called for October by a notice in the Gazette as
follows :

"A meeting of the members of St. John's Lodge No. 19, to be held in the
lodge room, Newark, on the second Tuesday in October at 11 o'clock, A.M., of
which all concerned are desired to take notice.

By order

31st July, 1794. Ralfe, Secretary."

As the records of this lodge, along with its successors, were destroyed
by fire in 1860, no conclusive proof can be obtained as to what occurred at
these meetings. However, it can be assumed that steps were taken to organize
the new lodge and eventually to return its former warrant to Quebec. It is
known that the summons calling for the organization meeting of St. John's
Lodge of Friendship No. 2 was sent out by Ralfe Clench, as secretary. He
was followed in office by Thomas Clark who was a member of the first
St. John's Lodge.

St. John's Lodge No. 19 certainly filled an important place in the
evolution of Freemasonry at Niagara.

GRAND MASTER'S LODGE NO. 1, NIAGARA

1796 - 1798

In 1792, Colonel John Graves Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant-Governor
of the newly-established province of Upper Canada. Among the officers whom
he chose to assist him in setting up and operating the new government was
William Jarvis, who was to serve as Provincial Secretary and Registrar.
Before leaving England he was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Upper
Canada by the Athol Grand Lodge and was provided with a warrant to
establish lodges in the province.

The provincial capital was set up temporarily at Newark (Niagara)
in the autumn of 1792 but it was not until 1794 that Jarvis had the time
or inclination to attend to his Masonic duties. The first lodge to be war-
ranted was St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2 in the Township of
Niagara. Number One was reserved for Grand Master's Lodge which
was not warranted until 1796.

— 1104—

Following the custom of his mother grand lodge in England, Jarvis
established a private lodge of which he was to be the master and which it
was supposed his successors in office would also head.

On the wall of the lodge room in Niagara hangs the charter of 1796.
It lists Francis Crooks as senior warden and Dr. Robert Kerr as junior
warden.

Written history of this lodge is very meagre but newspaper notices in
the local press indicated that members of this lodge joined the other local
lodges in celebrating Masonic functions from time to time.

By 1797, Simcoe had re-located the capital of the province at York
(Toronto). Jarvis went along with the government. No record is left to
indicate that Grand Master's Lodge No. 1 was active after 1798. On St.
John's Day in that year the lodge joined three of the other lodges in the
annual celebration.

ST. JOHN'S LODGE OF FRIENDSHIP NO. 2 IN THE
TOWNSHIP OF NIAGARA, Alias QUEENSTON

1795 - 1822

During the period 1795 - 1822, when the first provincial grand lodge held
authority over the lodges of Upper Canada, there were three lodges holding
concurrent jurisdiction in the town and township of Niagara. They were Grand
Master's Lodge No. 1, St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2 and Lodge of
Philantrophy No. 4. Adjacent, also, was Stamford Lodge No. 12, "on the
mountain" and St. George's Lodge No. 27 in St. Catharines.

Although the warrant for St. John's Lodge of Friendship was not issued
until November 20, 1795, meetings under the new organization began on May
24. In 1898, the minutes for the whole period were discovered. A copy was
made by John Ross Robertson and filed in the Masonic Library, Toronto.
Unfortunately no trace was found of the records of its sister lodges. The
original warrant was also found. It was endorsed on the back as Dalhousie
Lodge No. 2, the successor of the lodge in 1822. The first officers were
Colonel John Butler, W.M., Joseph Clement, S.W., Samuel Gardner, J.W. and
Ralfe Clench, Secretary. On July 15, William Jarvis, P.G.M., and Christopher
Danby, G.S.W., visited the lodge and Jarvis assumed the chair. The purpose of
the meeting was not stated.

During its twenty-seven years of history, the lodge met in eighteen dif-
ferent locations, chiefly at Queenston and St. Davids, although the festivals
of St. John were often celebrated at Niagara. On such occasions, it was usual
to join with the other lodges. On one occasion, a motion stated that the
festival would be celebrated at Queenston, but the Gazette in its next issue
stated that Lodge No. 2 had joined Grand Lodge at its request for the occasion.

During part of the time during the War of 1812-14 no meetings were held.
No records were made from February 5, 1813 until January 17, 1815. On the
latter date six military personnel were initiated.

— 1105—

A survey of the minute book shows a wide variation in attendance. A
number of meetings had only four registered. Up to twenty-four were at
the largest meetings. Apparently a fee was charged for each meeting not
per year as presently in vogue. Much difficulty was experienced in collecting
dues. Time after time the minutes stated that brethren were to be given
special summons to attend to pay up their arrears.

Fees for joining were $7.00 Canadian funds, but were often paid in New
York currency or in British sterling. A fee was collected also for each of the
other degrees.

There seems to be evidence that Canadian lodges followed the custom of the
Athol G. L. of England in conferring the Holy Royal Arch degree on those
who had "passed the chair." No separate body was warranted for this.
William Jarvis held the dual positions of Provincial Grand Master and
Provincial High Priest. On August 2, 1810, a motion was made to open a
Mark Master's Lodge. No further record is given of this move.

Members of the lodge took their duties very seriously. On numerous
occasions applicants were rejected. On February 11, 1797, five black balls
rejected J. McEven and two John Chrysler. At a later meeting Matthias
Carron received eleven black balls. A change of heart took place later as
on April 17, 1798, Chrysler applied again in these words:

"The petition of John Chrysler humbly sheweth, That your petitioner has
long been desirous of becoming a Mason, having once before petitioned your
lodge and was rejected, still relying on a good character and the liberality
of the lodge, again presumes to request the honour of being admitted into
your society. Your petitioner will ever pray.

John Chrysler."

His petition was then accepted and he went on become Master for
several terms. His descendants are still much-respected residents of the
township.

On May 12, 1808, the minute book reads:

"Read a petition of Matthias Carron, when it was passed by the minutes
of this lodge on April 1797, that the said Matthias Carron was by some
inveterate brothers black balled, but it appears from his conduct ever since
that the said Matthias Carron is eligible to become a member of this society,
which was the unanimous opinion of this lodge in consequence the Deputy
Grand Master apply to the Grand Master for a dispensation for the same."

From time to time charges were laid by members against their brethren.
Many cases did not indicate what the charges were and apparently were
easily settled. One case, however, was not so easily settled. In December 1807,
a dispute arose between John Connolly and Brother Bongerer over a work
contract. The latter had agreed to work for Connolly during a period of
illness. However he did not fulfil his duties with the result that eighteen
bushels of beer in the course of preparation spoiled. Bongerer agreed to work

— 1106—

for Connolly to make up for the loss but he claimed that he lost $60.00 in
so doing. In the end an amicable settlement was reached.

On January 7, 1811, it was recorded that the lodge "received a charge from
Brother Corbin against Joseph Brown for unmasonic conduct. Bro. Brown, in
contempt of the lodge after several importunities threw up his jewels and
left the lodge room."

On May 1, 1809, it was reported that the jewels had been stolen from the
Master's desk. Later that month a search warrant was obtained. No results
of the search are evident. In October, Brother Lutz put in a bill for $1.00
for the warrant. At the same time a new chest, with a lock was ordered
for the safe keeping of lodge property. It might be well to note that as the
meeting-place of the lodge was frequently changed, it was necessary to have
some type of chest to hold all lodge property. This practice has resulted in the
preservation of the original warrant of the lodge which is now displayed on
the wall of the temple at Niagara.

Christopher Danby was initiated in the same lodge as was William Jarvis
in London, England. He was, for many years, chief adviser to Jarvis in
Masonic matters in Canada. He became a member of Lodge of Philantrophy
No. 4. Up to November 1799 he was a frequent visitor to St. John's Lodge.
At that time he affiliated and the next month he became Master. From that
time until 1822 he was the backbone of the lodge. At one time he was listed
as Deputy Grand Master. During many meetings when there was no degree
work, he gave lectures on what we would now term Masonic education.

On June 6, 1796, George Adams was initiated. He later served as
secretary. In 1822 he was Provincial Grand Master of the schismatic
Grand Lodge at Niagara, He lived in the Township of Grantham adjacent to
St. Catharines and became a leader in St. George's Lodge No. 27, St. Cath-
arines. During the last years of Christopher Danby he cared for him.

With the reorganization in 1822 under the second Provincial Grand Lodge,
new officers took over and even the name of the lodge changed.

THE LODGE OF PHILANTHROPY NO. 4

A fourth, and apparently quite active, lodge operated at Niagara from its
inception on April 6, 1796 to some time during the 1830's. No direct records
have been found as they were likely destroyed in the fire of 1860. Our only
information is gleaned from the visitors' record of sister lodges and the
records and proceedings of the provincial grand lodge.

In several places, the lodge goes unnamed. But it is generally known as
the Lodge of Philanthropy and was given the number 4 on the provincial
register with 757 on the English register.

This lodge has the distinction of being the first one in Upper Canada to
establish a fund for the widows and orphans of Masons, hence its name.

—1107—

It must have been a strong active lodge as many of its members were
visitors at the meetings of sister lodges. It was represented at the re-
organization under Simon McGillivray and returns were received until the
provincial grand lodge became inactive.

In 1856, when the present Niagara Lodge No. 2 received its warrant,
Lodge No. 4 was specifically mentioned as being the lodge from which
this lodge came. No doubt the present lodge was the successor of both
Dalhousie Lodge No. 2 and the Lodge of Philanthropy No. 4, and so carried
forward the Masonic tradition along the Niagara frontier.

THE RIFT IN FREEMASONRY 1801 - 1822

Although William Jarvis was granted a warrant on March 7, 1792, by the
Grand Lodge of England (Athol), to establish a Provincial Grand Lodge in
Upper Canada, he did not call a meeting until August 26, 1795 for the purpose
of completing the organization. Fortunately there were some very ardent
masons resident in the province at that time. These became the bulwark of the
society and lent the enthusiasm so sadly lacking in Jarvis.

In 1797, when the provincial capital was permanently established in York
(Toronto), Jarvis moved with the government. He took with him his
warrant and claimed that the headquarters of Grand Lodge was where the
warrant was held.

However, the brethren at Niagara did not agree with this view and
continued to hold Grand Lodge sessions there but they sent all official papers
to Jarvis for attention. By 1801, the state of Masonry was so low that
something had to be done. Jarvis was given the ultimatum to attend the next
Grand Lodge Convocation or relinquish his office. No drastic action was
taken until 1802, when George Forsyth was elected Provincial Grand Master.

The lodges in the Niagara peninsula and in western Upper Canada backed
up the Niagara brethren but those in the vicinity of York and in the eastern
parts did not fall in line.

In 1804, Jarvis urged by brethren in the eastern part, finally called a
meeting of Grand Lodge at York to re-organize it. As he was able to produce
his warrant, quite a large number of Masons acknowledged him as their
Grand Master, and the Niagara group became known as the schismatic Grand
Lodge. It gave warrants to about ten new lodges. Both groups kept up
correspondence with the Grand Secretary in England and both were recognized
in some measure.

In 1817, William Jarvis died but it was not until 1822 that the rift was
healed under Simon McGillivray who was accepted as Provincial Grand
Master by both sides. At this time George Adams, a member of St. John's
Lodge of Friendship, was the Provincial Grand Master of the Niagara group.

— 1108—

DALHOUSIE LODGE NO. 2
1822 - 1827

The second provincial grand lodge was organized on September 23, 1822,
at York. The Niagara brethren were represented by William J. Kerr who was
listed as the new Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 2, although his father
Dr. Robert Kerr is shown in that position in lodge records.

At the first convocation of the provincial grand lodge the breach created
early in the 1800's was healed by the appointment of W. J. Kerr as Grand
Senior Warden and his father, a former Grand Master of the Niagara Grand
Lodge, as Past Grand Master.

Between the time of the first meeting and the second, which was held
on July 9, 1823, the new Provincial Grand Master, Simon McGillivray
reported to the Duke of Sussex, in England, as follows :

"I also had the satisfaction of rescuing from rather doubtful hands
the warrant granted by Brother Jarvis to Lodge No. 2 (No. 1 he had not
given), and I have given a dispensation under that number to a select
association of highly respectable brethren at Niagara, and I shall consider
a further extension of lodges of this description as a subject of con-
gratulations for very obvious reasons". (Robertson II, Pg. 307).

It is easy to see how elated McGillivray was to be able to heal the
breach that had been evident in Masonry in Upper Canada.

The new dispensation was given in the name of Dalhousie Lodge
honouring Lord Dalhousie, the current Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada,
and the old number was retained. The list of officers is not available but an
old ledger shows Dr. Robert Kerr as Worshipful Master and R. H. Dee as
Senior Warden.

The ledger covers a period of about two years beginning in 1822.
Eleven members are listed, few of whom belonged to the former St. John's
Lodge of Friendship. From the time of the War of 1812, that lodge had
gradually dwindled away.

The records indicate that the first meeting of the lodge was held on
September 20, 1822, three days before the organization of the provincial grand
lodge. Meetings were held with some regularity until October 15, 1823, fifteen
meetings being held in all. The final end came in 1826 as at that time
R. H. Dee tried to transfer the warrant to Stamford Lodge. On October 24,
of that year, John Beikie, D.D.G.M. wrote to Simon McGillivray on the
matter. No results, however, were obtained because "arrearages" were not
paid up.

By 1824, the lodge had fallen so far into financial difficulties that it

—1109—

was decided to dispose of the lodge furniture to pay off the debts. Here follows
a copy of an agreement executed at that time :

"We whose names are hereto subscribed being members of Dalhousie
Lodge (or No. 2 of Upper Canada) on the spot, and only answering
individually for ourselves, have resolved for want of necessary support to
maintain the lodge, to refrain meeting as a body until some alteration
advantageously to that effect takes place; or until the Grand Master
interest himself in the case. Wherefore we do propose and agree to avoid
any meeting, to deliver over the lodge furniture to Brother John McGlashan
on his written acknowledgement being granted for them to be forth-
coming at any time to the majority of us and for which said acknowledge-
ment must be returned. Or to dispose of the articles by sale and make a
dividend of the proceeds after paying the lodge debts. And to avoid
any further misunderstanding the propositions to be decided by a majority
of signatures thereto annexed, which shall be as follows, viz : — that
the members desirous of selling the furniture of the lodge to subscribe
the left half of this page, and those who wish to deliver them over
to the charge of Bro. McGlashan for the future use of the lodge shall
subscribe en the right half of the page, but it is understood that the
right side or half of this page of paper shall be the side where the
writing of lines finishes, and the left side where the lines begin. In

witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands accordingly this

day of in the year of our Lord, one thousand and eight

hundred and twenty- four.

R. H. Dee, S.W.

William J. Kerr
James A. Stephenson
J. McGlashan."

The next information concerning Dalhousie Lodge comes from the
year 1827 when W. J. Kerr writes, "As a member of the late Lodge No. 2," to
J. McGlashan, who had taken charge of the property :

"Niagara, May 21, 1827.
"Dear Sir,

Your letter of the 18th instant I received this day on my arrival —
and in answer to which I have to say — that I am perfectly willing (as a
member of the late Lodge No. 2) that the furniture of that body should be
disposed of to meet the demands that exist against it, and particularly as the
warrant has been returned to the Grand Lodge, therefore I agree with you in
opinion that the furniture ought to be disposed of, and I truly authorize you
to act for me as may seem best as a member of Dalhousie Lodge No. 2 in
disposing of the same. I will thank you to forward a book of constitutions to
me, when received from Mr. Dee, and believe me,

Yours faithfully
Mr. J. McGlashan William J. Kerr"

This then closes out the history of Dalhousie Lodge No. 2 until the
third provincial grand lodge was organized in 1845 under Sir Allan N. MacNab.
At that time there were num.erous Masons living at Niagara so it can only be
supposed that the movement did not die out entirely. During the period,
which followed the Morgan incident at Niagara, a wave of anti-Masonry
swept America. Nowhere did the order thrive, yet it did not cease entirely.

—1110—

NIAGARA LODGE NO. 2
1846 - 1855

As stated previously, the William Morgan incident of 1826 sparked
an anti-Masonic movement that had been simmering for several years. So strong
was the feeling against the order that many grand lodges and most con-
stituent lodges in America ceased to operate. Here and there the brethren
kept alive their ledges and continued with the work. It was not until the 1840's
that a general revival took place. For years there had been no provincial grand
master for Upper Canada. In 1845, Sir Allan Napier MacNab received the
appointment to this office and the brethren were summoned to meet at
Hamilton on August 9 to attempt a re-organization. Seven lodges sent repre-
sentatives but the lodge at Niagara, being inactive, was not one.

No date is given for the re-warranting of the lodge but the returns
made on November 1, 1846 show it active again. At that time, St. Andrews
of Toronto was listed as No. 1 with the lodge at Niagara, now called
Niagara Lodge, as No. 2, on the provincial register. On the English register,
the latter was given Number 492. In 1847, the Master, Alexander Gordon,
was appointed to the Board of General Purposes.

In the list of grand lodge officers for 1850, the name of Dr. Henry
Melville is given for the office of Grand Senior Deacon.

Records indicate that Alexander Gordon was Worshipful Master from
1845 to 1847. He was followed by Dr. Henry Melville for 1848, 1850 and
1851, with W. G. Downs for 1849 and in 1852 and 1858. He was in office
when the Grand Lodge of Canada was formed.

NIAGARA LODGE NO. 2
1855 - 1961

In 1855, when the Grand Lodge of Canada was declared independent, the
Niagara brethren were behind the movement. In the re-numbering of the lodges
in 1856, it retained its previous number. Number one went to the Lodge of
Social and Military Virtues, Montreal. Many lodges remained loyal to the
Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada under MacNab. They were not
considered in the numbering. St. Andrews of Toronto retained number one
under this re-numbering. In 1857, when the two finally merged, Niagara Lodge
still retained its rank. When the Grand Lodge of Quebec was formed, the
Montreal lodge became one of the lodges on its register, leaving no lodge
senior to Niagara Lodge. Since that time it has been the senior lodge in
Ontario.

On March 25, 1860, the lodge hall in Niagara was destroyed by fire and
with it most of the lodge records. The charter had to be replaced. It
indicated that in 1856, when it was originally issued. Dr. Robert M. Willson
was the Worshipful Master, John Hemphill, Senior Warden, and Robert
Gordon, Junior Warden. Dr. Willson must have ruled continuously, with the
exception of 1858 when W. F. G. Downes was Master, until 1861, as the
minute book started after the fire shows him Master in that year.

—nil—

Plaque on Masonic Hal!
J. F. C. Aikins, U.E.L., Worshipful Master 1953.

Research has failed to determine where the lodge met from 1845 to 1860.
It certainly was not in the present M'-'^i'ters as the lodge moved there in 1860.
The minutes do not state this fact hut on April 16, 1877, when the Masonic
building was purchased, the building committee reported as follows :

"On Tuesday, the 20th ult., a final settlement was effected with Messrs.
Miller and Miller with regard to the purchase of the building now and for
some years occupied by the lodge."

At no time between 1860 and 1877 is there any indication that the quarters
of the lodge were changed.

No major catastrophe or upheaval has occurred during the past century
of the lodge. Time and time again the funds were so low that there was
fear that operations must cease, but in each case there was retrenchment and
revival.

Reading of the minutes indicates the frequency with which Masonic trials
took place. It seemed that with very slight provocation a brother would
charge another with unmasonic conduct and a trial would result. Almost in-
variably the charge would not be sustained or an admonition and apology
would close the matter.

—1112—

Many social events took place. One of the most interesting was the annual
steamer trip across the lake to Toronto. This appeared on several occasions
to be a money-maker for the lodge used the surplus to make payments on
the mortgage.

Unlike present-day practice, most parades were accompanied by a band.
These seemed costly considering the value of money at the time, but appeared
to the brethren to be necessary.

In 1865, Dr. Robert M. Willson was made an honorary life member. He
had served the town as Mayor in 1861. He was elected D.D.G.M. in 1870.
His was the first honorary membership conferred. He was followed, in 1871,
by James Seymour, a member of St. George's Lodge No. 15 and Maple Leaf
Lodge No. 103, of St. Catharines and the only Grand Master from this part
of the province.

John Ross Robertson spent much time in the 1880's investigating Masonry
in the Niagara Peninsula. To culminate his research, he visited the lodge on
June 18, 1889 and gave an interesting lecture, entitled "One Hundred Years
of Masonry in Canada." At the next regular meeting of the lodge it was
unanimously decided to make him an honorary member with full privileges.
This honour he evidently appreciated as he frequently visited the lodge.

In 1942, at the time of the 150th anniversary of Masonry in Upper Canada,
Grand Lodge met at Niagara and unveiled a plaque in the lodge room to
commemorate this event. The Grand Master, Dr. John A. McRae made the
presentation. The feature of the evening was the giving of an historical
sketch of Freemasonry in the Niagara District 1792-1942 by Dr. J. J. Talman
of Western University, London. To close the celebration, the brethren paraded
to Old St. Mark's Church where divine service was held. The Lodge had
156 members at that time.

With the increase in size and importance of St. Catharines, Niagara
Falls and Welland, and the transfer of the county seat with its attendant
offices to St. Catharines, Niagara ceased to be the leading centre of the
district. Masonry in the town and adjoining township reflected the economic
conditions. Despite this. Masonry has continued to be a vital force in the
town.

FREEMASONS' HALL

Masonry was of so much importance at the time of the founding of
Niagara that the Land Board, appointed by the Crown to divide the new land
among the Loyalist settlers and immigrants felt it necessary to have a
regular meeting place for the order. The minutes of the meeting of the
Board, held in June 24, 1791 carried this information;

"The Board authorize a public house to be built on the corner lot on the
east end of the town adjoining the River, and a Masons' Lodge on the next
to it."

—1113—

An old pen and ink sketch in the John Ross Robertson collection and
published in his History of Freemasonry in Canada, shows three buildings
in a row, the public house near the River, the Masonic hall next to it and the
residence of Surveyor W. D. Smith farther inland. From the minutes of the
Board and the sketch, the Niagara Historical Society placed a plaque at the
River's edge in 1902 to commemorate this hall and the founding of the first
newspaper in Upper Canada, the Gleaner.

However, more recent research has unearthed an old map with the words
"The Lodge" written in on Lot 33, the site of the present Masonic building.
A heavy manuscript book marked "Letters received January 1794 to October
1794" shows lot 33 marked "Freemasons' Lodge." The strip of land adjacent
to Niagara River was not divided into lots and so would not likely be built
upon. Starting at the south-east corner of the surveyed area, that is at
the corner of Front and King Streets, the lots were numbered 1 to 16 in
the first strip. They were numbered back in the second strip from 17 to 32.
The third row, beginning at Prideaux Street began with Number 33. It can
be assumed that the public house took in lots 1 and 32 and the Masonic
Lodge, Lot 33.

The records in the Crown Land Office go back only to February 10, 1797
when the Crown granted the half-acre lot 33 to William Dickson who at that
time was an enthusiastic Mason. It was not until April 8, 1833 that John
Eaglesum obtained the east half of the lot. He sold it on October 29, 1847
to William Little from whose estate the Niagara Lodge purchased it in 1877.

The building was destroyed by fire during the War of 1812 but was
rebuilt in 1816. Before it was burned it was the meeting place, along with
Navy Hall, for the citizens of the community. The first meeting of the
Provincial Grand Lodge of Upper Canada was held there in 1795 when five
lodges were in attendance. The Land Board, the Agricultural Society and
council meetings of the Indian bands were frequently convened here.

Since the rebuilding it has gone by the name of "Stone Barracks." In
all legal papers dealing with the property it is described as follows : "All
and singular that certain parcel or tract of land and premises situate lying
and being in the Town of Niagara in the County of Lincoln, and Province of
Ontario containing by admeasure one quarter of an acre be the same more or
less, being the northeast half of Lot Number Thirty-three in the said Town
of Niagara formerly the property of one John Eaglesum on which said lot
is erected a stone building called the "Stone Barracks".

Between 1816 and 1877, it was put to various uses. A. McKee had his
private school there in 1830. J. Miller used it for a dancing academy. It was
at one time a boarding house, a store, a hotel and a barracks.

After the Lodge lost its quarters on March 25, 1860, it leased the top floor
of the building from William Little, a member of the lodge, who owned
it at that time. On July 7, 1865, the lodge accounts show $40.00 paid to
Little for a year's rent.

—1114—

Beginning in 1873, a committee, appointed for the purpose, began looking
for new quarters. In 1875, William Little died and his executors were
desirous of closing out his estate. The Lodge was offered the property for
$500.00. This was accepted and the transfer was made on February 27, 1877.

It became necessary almost immediately to renovate the building. First a
new roof had to be put on. This cost $600.00 which was covered by a mort-
gage given on November 18, 1880.

It was always a struggle to repay the various mortgages placed on the
property. In both 1880 and 1890, a move was on foot to sell out for
$1,000.00. The deal, however, was not taken too seriously.

Since the turn of the century it became necessary from time to time to
make major repairs and renovations.

The lower floor became a source of revenue at various times. Since its
inception, the Royal Arch Chapter made joint use of the upper floor with
the Lodge. Such organizations as the Home Circle and the Orange Lodge,
met on the ground floor. For a while in 1919, the Public School Board
leased it for a classroom.

Truly the Niagara Masonic buildnig may be considered a national
historical site.

COLONEL JOHN BUTLER

In the earliest years of the settlement at Niagara one of its leading
citizens was Colonel John Butler.

John Butler was born in New London, Connecticut, then a British
province, in 1728. He spent his whole life in faithful service to the Crown.
In the Seven Years' war of which Canada was the prize, he fought at the
battles of Lake George in September 1755 and at Ticonderoga a little later.
He was at the capture of Fort Frontenac (Kingston) and took part in the
siege and capitulation from the French on July 28, 1759, of Fort Niagara.
When General Prideaux was killed at Niagara, Sir William Johnson took
command of the whole forces for Britain and Butler was placed in charge of
the Indian allies. He accompanied General Amherst against Montreal.

During Pontiac's war he was active in restraining the Indians of the Six
Nations. By his knowledge of the Indian language he was able to exert a
great influence over them. After the war he was retained by the government
to aid in the work with the Indians.

In 1775 he accompanied Colonel Guy Johnson to Montreal and was sent
by Sir Guy Carleton, Governor of Canada, to Fort Niagara to take charge
there. Two years later, he was present at the siege of Fort Stanwix. In order
to protect the Niagara frontier he raised the battalion known as Butler's
Rangers. Many of his men were resident in that part of New England
where he made his home.

In 1778, he took and destroyed eight forts in the Susquehanna Valley near
Wyoming. He then built a row of log barracks at Niagara on the Canadian
side of the river and greatly enlarged the number of his Rangers. The buildings
became known as the Ranger's Barracks. During the years 1779-1782, his
rangers did yeomen service for Britain.

—1115—

When the Revolutionary War closed and the Rangers were about to be
demobilized, many of his men chose to stay at Niagara and were among the first
settlers. They received special grants of land for being United Empire
Loyalists or former soldiers. Several of these grants remain in the names of
the families even to this day. Chief among these are the Chrysler and
Vrooman families.

After the Rangers were disbanded, John Butler was named Deputy
Superintendent of Indian Affairs and a Justice in the District Court. He
received a salary of £500 and a pension of £200 along with a grant of
land for his family.

Not only was Colonel Butler noted for his military career, he was one of
the founders and a staunch supporter of St. Mark's Anglican Church at
Niagara. He also took an active part in civic affairs by being a member of
the Land Board.

John Butler became a Mason in Union Lodge No. 1 of Albany, N.Y., on
April 10, 1766. An ancient document from the lodge shows these items:

Bro. Sir William Johnson on raising 16

Bro. Guy Johnson on raising

Bro. Claus at entering 3

Bro. Butler at entering 3

etc.

In 1766 he assisted in the organization of St. Patrick's Lodge No. 4 of
Johnstown, N.Y. The first Master was Sir William Johnson, Guy Johnson
was Senior Warden, Daniel Claus was Junior Warden, while John Butler was
the first Secretary. Records of the lodge indicate that he signed the by-laws
of the lodge on December 1, 1766. He served in this office until May 4, 1769,
at which time he was elected treasurer. His last attendance at St. Patrick's
Lodge was February 3, 1774, when he was acting as Senior Warden. There is
no record of him serving as Master of the lodge.

He took a very active part in Freemasonry from its inception at Niagara
until his death. In 1887, he became the first Master of St. John's Lodgo
No. 19, under Quebec registration. In 1797, when the Provincial Grand Lod^ e
of Upper Canada was founded, he was appointed as its Grand Senior Warden
under William Jarvis. He was one of the charter members of St. John's
Lodge of Friendship No. 2 and became its first Master.

He died in May 1796 and his remains were interred in the vault in the
Butler's Burying Grounds on the edge of the town of Niagara. A tablet
erected to his memory may be seen in St. Mark's Church.

Canadian Freemasonry may be proud of him as one of its founders.

JOSEPH CLEMENT

Joseph Clement was senior warden of St. John's Lodge of Friendship
No. 2 when it was warranted in 1795. His certificate of membership in
Lodge No. 156 of the Eighth Regiment in 1780 is the oldest Masonic document
pertaining to Masonry in the Province of Ontario.

The record of the Clement family goes back to the early 18th century
when a widow Clement married Benjamin Roberts of Woolwych in Cludent

—1116—

of Bents Island, New York. She had two sons by her first husband,
Joseph and Peter.

The Joseph of our story was the grandson of the elder Joseph. He was
born on October 24, 1750. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the
family lived along the Mohawk River in the County of Tyron, New York.
They were loyal to Britain and took up arms as Loyalists. In a document
executed some time after the close of the war, he laid claim to compensation
for losses incurred. He outlined his service in some detail. He joined the
British Militia in 1777 and served in the Indian Department as a lieutenant.
In 1783 at the close of the war, he was stationed at Montreal. He then
settled at Niagara.

He must have been attached to the 8th or King's Regiment in 1780
when he became a member of Lodge 156. He must have had a good
standing in Masonry because he was chosen to serve as senior warden at the
institution of St. John's Lodge No. 2 in 1795. He did not succeed John
Butler as Master but his son John, served two terms as Master in 1799
and 1817. Joseph died in 1812.

RALFE CLENCH

Ralfe Clench may be considered as one of the founders of Masonry on
the Niagara frontier as well as being a man of great civic and military
importance.

He was born in 1762 in the State of Pennsylvania, the son of Robert
Clench who was • officer in the British Army. As a child he moved to
Schenectady with his family. There Robert Clench became one of the
founders of the first Masonic lodge in that city.

Ralfe followed in his father's footsteps by joining the army at an early
age. In 1775, at the beginning of the American Revolution, he became a
cadet in the 42nd Regiment. Soon he transferred to the 8th or King's
Regiment of Foot and proceeded to Fort Niagara. After one year's service, he
again transferred to Butler's Rangers where he attained the rank of lieutenant.
When the war was over and the Rangers were disbanded, he helped to
establish the West Riding Regiment, well-known as the Lincoln militia and
became their colonel. With this regiment, he took part in the Battle of
Queenston Heights. In 1813 he was a prisoner of war for a short period.

When the Town of Niagara was founded, he became the first town clerk
and a justice of the peace. He also took a leading part in the Agricultural
Society which was of major importance at that time. He was elected three
times to the legislature of Upper Canada — in 1801, 1805 and 1813. He
finally served as the first judge of Niagara district in 1827 one year
before his death.

There is no record of his initiation into Masonry, but taking into
consideration his age and the period in which he served in the military
forces, he must have joined Lodge No. 156 of the 8th or King's Regiment.
On the withdrawal of the regiment from Niagara, a new lodge was formed
across the river. It was called St. John's Lodge and was No. 19 on the
Quebec register. He served as the first secretary under the mastership of

—1117—

Col. John Butler. On the establishment of the Provincial Grand Lodge
under William Jarvis, the lodge was re-organized as St. John's Loc-p;e of
Friendship No. 2 of which Butler became the first master and Ralfe Clench
the first secretary. He served as third master of this lodge in 1796.

Niagara owes much to such staunch citizens and Masons as Colonel
Ralfe Clench.

APPENDICES

1. Certificate of Joseph Clement.

2. Warrant of Lodge No. 2, Township of Newark, alias Queenston.

3. Register of Members of Lodge No. 156. In the 8th or King's

Regiment of Foot.

4. Worshipful Masters of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2. 1795-1822.

5. List of members of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2. 1795-1822.

6. Members of Dalhousie Lodge No. 2. 1822-1824.

7. Worshipful Masters of Dalhousie Lodge No. 2. 1822-1824,

and Niagara Lodge No. 2. 1845-1855.

8. Worshipful Masters of Niagara Lodge No. 2. 1855-1961.

9. Meeting Places of St. John's Lodge of Friendship No. 2. 1795-1822.

10. The First Parliament of Upper Canada 1792.

11. First Officials of the Town of Niagara 1793.

12. Members of the Agricultural Society 1792-1805.

13. Niagara Land Board.

14. Law Society of Upper Canada 1797.

15. Charter of Niagara Lodge No. 2. 1856.

16. Masonic Line of Succession — Niagara.

APPENDIX I

Certificate of Joseph Clement, 1780

AND THE DARKNESS COMPREHENDED IT NOT

We, the Master, Wardens and Secretary of Lodge No. 156 of Free
and Accepted Masons from the Grand Constitution of England, held in the
King's or 8th Regiment of Foot.

Adorned with all their honours and assembled lodge in due form, do
hereby declare, certify and attest, to all men enlightened by the truth, and
spread on the face of the earth, that the bearer hereof, our worthy
Brother Joseph Clement, has been by us lawfully entered an Apprentice.
Passed a Fellow Craft, and after having sustained with strength and courage
the most Painful Works and Severest Tryalls, we have raised him into the
sublime degree of Master Mason, and have entitled h